Ehsanullah Ehsan of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has surrendered: DG ISPR

ISLAMABAD: DG ISPR Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor disclosed on Monday that terrorist Ehsanullah Ehsan had surrendered before the security forces and has been taken into custody.

During a press briefing, Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor said that the former spokesperson of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and incumbent spokesperson of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Ehsanullah Ahsan has surrendered himself to security forces.

Operation RUF to end disorder: ISPR DG

General Asif Ghafoor said the operation Radd ul Fasaad (RUF) was continuing successfully and the Pakistan Army with the support of entire nation was determined to end disorder from the country. "The operation RUF will be taken to its logical conclusion."

He said all the earlier operations, which were of kinetic in nature, were successful with the support of the people and state institutions, while the aim of RUF was to consolidate their gains.

Quoting Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, he said the RUF was not an operation of army alone, but other institutions and all Pakistani citizens were part of it.

"The RUF is an operation in which every Pakistani is a soldier. We have to clear Pakistan of 'fasaad and fasadis' together while staying united."

Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said people could inform about any dubious activity on the helplines provided by the army, and Pakistan Rangers Punjab and Sindh, besides Frontier Corps in Balochistan and Frontier Constabulary (FC) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

"The army is a state institution and we will continue to give all kinds of sacrifices for the security of Pakistan. We have been mandated to safeguard the country at every cost."

He expressed determination to eradicate terrorism as well as "fasadis" and their abettors, handlers and facilitators wherever they were found.

"We have to delink all the 'fasadis' from the elements sitting across the border."

He recalled that during the operation Zarb-e-Azb, militants were dislodged from North Waziristan and the area was cleared except small pockets in Rajgal and Shawal.

During the operation, air force also targetted the militant hideouts, he added.

The army through intelligence based operations (IOBs), he said, had dislodged the facilitators and abettors of militants and brokentheir connection with their leadership sitting across the border.

He said writ of the state was being restored and no power could fight the state. "Our state has made a lot of progress, but more work needs to be done."

He said the Pakistan Army had been fighting militancy since 2008, it had cleared all the areas physically by launching kinetic offensive, and now was the time to consolidate the gains and ensure an enduring peace through the RUF which was both kinetic and non-kinetic in nature.

He said Pakistan was 70 years old and it took time to strengthen its institutions and systems.

He said reforms were being made in four areas, including judiciary, police, madaris (seminaries) and educational institutions, and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) through the National Action Plan.

Other measures to be taken were stabilization of FATA, border management mechanism and active surveillance on the borders, he added.

He said the army along with FC would build 338 check posts by 2019 to strengthen border with  Afghanistan, besides fencing it along Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA.

He said 42 forts had already been built, while 63 more were being built along the Pak-Afghan border.

The ISPR DG said the Pak-Afghan border was 2611 kilometre long and in the first phase, 744 km border along Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be fenced and then fencing would be done along the border with Balochistan.

He said work was being carried out to erect fence along 100 kilometer border in Mohmand Agency on priority basis.

He told a questioner, "The border management mechanism is the most important issue and Pakistan as a sovereign country can do what it wants on its territory."

He said the Afghan leadership also realized that border fencing would also help their country. Talks between the leadership of two countries would further improve the situation, he added.

Noreen makes video confession

DG ISPR Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor, suspected female militant Noreen Laghari disclosed that she was to be used as a suicide bomber by Daesh.

He said that she had never gone to Syria.

Ina a video confession played during a press briefing conducted by DG ISPR Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor, Noreen Laghari made it plain that she left her house to go to Lahore on her own free accord.

The suspected female militant further stated that she was to be used by the banned outfit as a suicide bomber on an attack to be conducted on a church at Easter.

She also acknowledged that her father was a professor at the Sindh University and she was a second year student of Liaquat Medical College.

Dawn Leaks

The DG ISPR said that Pakistan army would react to the Dawn Leaks once the finding of the inquiry report was made public. “Under the mandate given to the inquiry committee, there was no clause regarding consensus of all committee’s members,” he said. - SAMAA