PESHAWAR: Awami National Party on Monday extended support to the military operation in North Waziristan Agency.

In a statement issued here, the ANP demanded of the government to take every possible measure to avoid the collateral damage.

The party said that people of Fata in general and North Waziristan in particular were victims of terrorism and not its perpetrators. For winning the present battle in North Waziristan it is important to win over the support of the people of the area, demanded the statement.

“We would like to remind everyone that the battle in Swat in 2009 was won by taking the people of the area on board. In this connection the government has got to take effective measures and deal with the humanitarian crisis particularly with the challenges faced by the IDPs,” the statement maintained.

The ANP expressed the hope that the government would adopt a comprehensive strategy based on military, political, administrative and socio-economic measures to curb terrorism in the country. “We also hope that in the action against extremist violence, no distinction will be made between good and bad terrorists. We also believe that military victory in the fight against terrorists will be possible only if the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan honestly cooperative with each other in eliminating the terrorism and refraining from giving sanctuaries to fugitives on both sides of the border,” the statement concluded.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2014