KARACHI: In the wake of the kidnapping of a son of the Sindh High Court chief justice and the murder of qawwal Amjad Sabri, Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif reached Karachi on Sunday and presided over a series of meetings with the entire civil and military security establishment to take stock of the situation.

The top security officials were briefed about the security situation and various aspects of the ongoing targeted operation.

The army chief along with Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar and Corps V Commander Lt Gen Naveed Mukhtar visited the headquarters of the Sindh Rangers during the day, where he was briefed by Rangers chief Maj Gen Bilal Akbar.

While the Rangers briefing was a purely military affair, the second meeting the army chief held at the headquarters of the V Corps in the evening was also attended by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad, Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, Home Minister Suhail Anwar Siyal and National Security Adviser retired Lt Gen Nasser Khan Janjua.

Pre-empt terrorists’ moves, Gen Raheel tells officials

The kidnapping of Awais Ali Shah, a son of SHC CJ Sajjad Ali Shah, and Sabri’s killing appeared to be the focal point of the army chief’s visit and the directive he issued to his commanders suggested that he was very much concerned about the situation.

An Inter-Services Public Relations statement issued from Rawalpindi about the two meetings said that the army chief assured the people of Karachi that the “nexus of terrorists, their abettors, sympathisers and financiers will be broken at all costs and the ongoing operation will be taken to its logical conclusion”.

Referring to “recent incidents” during his visit to the Sindh Rangers headquarters, Gen Raheel “directed all commanders including those of intelligence agencies to continue working hand in glove and leave no stone unturned in finding the perpetrators”.

The visit of the army chief to the headquarters of the paramilitary force is of significance. The Rangers have been leading the Karachi operation since September 2013 when the federal and provincial governments gave them the mandate to curb targeted killings, extortion, kidnapping for ransom and terrorism in the commercial capital of the country.

The statement said that the Rangers director general briefed the army chief about ongoing operations, the prevailing security situation and the way forward for the Karachi operation.

Gen Raheel made it clear that the Karachi operation would continue and the Rangers would remain in the forefront to maintain peace in the city.

“The army chief reiterated that across-the-board operation focuses on the entire network of terrorists, their abettors and financiers, and will continue till we achieve our objective of peace and restore normalcy in all parts of Karachi.”

He also said that all-out assistance, including “intelligence and material combat support”, would be provided to the Rangers to accomplish their mission.

At the corps headquarters meeting, the army chief asked the authorities concerned to hunt the terrorists and their abettors and pre-empt their moves. “We must continue our mission unabated to consolidate and not let anyone reverse our gains,” he said, according to the ISPR statement.

He said that the ongoing operation had brought about noticeable improvement in law and order of Karachi. “However as we progress to target the crime and terror syndicate network, we need to keep our focus on actionable human and technical intelligence and totally dismantle their support structure.”

Gen Raheel said that the Karachi operation had now entered a phase where terrorists and their abettors were badly bruised, isolated. They will go for soft targets so as to find their survival and undermine the society psychologically, he added.

The statement said that measures to build capacity of other law enforcement agencies were also discussed for lasting peace in Karachi.

At the Rangers headquarters, the army chief while talking to troops said that determination, courage and resolve of the Sindh Rangers to rid Karachi of the terrorists and criminals had earned them widest respect from the people of Karachi.

He commended the sacrifices and achievements of the Rangers, which brought about significant improvement in the law and order situation in Karachi so far.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2016