RAWALPINDI: Amid rising terror attacks across the country, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir blamed on Tuesday “soft state” for the loss of innocent lives, asking for how long they [armed forces] will fill the “gaps of governance” with martyrs’ blood.
“We need better governance… we should make Pakistan a hard state,” the army chief said while ad-dressing a high-level in-camera meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, which was skipped by major opposition parties, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
The in-camera session came against the backdrop of rising terrorism in Pakistan, including a major ter-rorist attack on a passenger train in the Mushqaf area of the Bolan district in Balochistan.
Dozens of militants, affiliated with the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), blew up a railway track and assaulted Jaffar Express on Tuesday, carrying more than 440 passengers — who were taken hostage.
The security forces, after a complex clearance operation, neutralised 33 attackers and rescued the hostage passengers.
Apart from five operational casualties, as many as 26 passengers were martyred by the terrorists, of which 18 were security personnel belonging to the Pakistan Army and the Frontier Corps (FC), three were officials from Pakistan Railways and other departments, and five were civilians.
The high-level meeting was attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, COAS Munir, Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (DG ISI) Lieutenant General Asim Malik, chief ministers of all four provinces, and other top officials.
However, several key figures including Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, NA Opposition Leader Omar Ayub and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members skipped the the high-level huddle.
Addressing the crucial session, COAS Munir asserted that no agenda, movement, or individual is great-er than national security. “If this country exists, so do we; therefore, nothing is more important to us than its security,” he added.
“All elements of national power must operate in unison to achieve lasting stability,” he emphasised, declaring that it is a fight for the nation’s survival and the future of generations to come.
“To safeguard Pakistan, we must adopt a unified narrative, rising above our political and personal in-terests,” he stressed.
“Those who believe they can weaken Pakistan through these terrorists — this day sends them a clear message,” he said, adding: “Today is a message that we will not only defeat them [terrorists] but also their facilitators.” –Agencies
