ISLAMABAD: It was the second high-level interaction between the civil and military leadership of the country within as many days, an indication of the severity of the military operation in North Waziristan.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, along with his core team of ministers, went to the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi where he was given a detailed briefing on the progress made by the armed forces since the launch of Zarb-i-Azb on June 15.

Chief of the Army Staff General Raheel Sharif had earlier met the prime minister on Wednesday at the latter’s office.

Although everything under the sun, ranging from army’s budgetary requirement, internal and external security affairs, management of IDPs, incidents of cross-border firing on both eastern and western borders, were discussed, the army chief sought special attention of the prime minister to dismal rate of convictions of terrorists captured by security forces, a senior government official privy to the meeting told Dawn.

The problem was also highlighted in a communiqué issued after the talks: “The meeting noted with concern that there is an issue of effectively prosecuting terrorists in the courts of law and terrorists are not getting convictions which has negative impact on forces’ effort in the war on terror. It was agreed that the forces will get full legal backing.”

According to the official, the prime minister was informed that the army in the past had captured many high-value terrorists but they were not convicted. The military leadership expressed satisfaction over the passage of the Pakistan Protection Act (PPA), but stressed the need for its true implementation on ground; otherwise army’s efforts would go down the drain.

The prime minister assured the military leadership that their concern would be addressed and that they would get full support from the government in this regard. If needed, he said, the government was ready to further strengthen the hands of the army through more legislation on the lines of PPA.

The prime minister and his team comprising Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Adviser to the PM on National Security Sartaj Aziz and Special Assistant to the PM Tariq Fatimi spent about four hours at the GHQ.

Director General Military Operations made a presentation which led to an engrossing discussion among the participants from the two sides who asked a number of questions.

Intelligence sharing between civil and military agencies was also discussed, particularly with reference to the handling of expected reaction by militants in the wake of the operation.

The interior minister informed the participants that provided with timely intelligence, police in collaboration with civil armed forces were ready to take on the militants. Thursday’s Lahore episode was quoted as an example of this increasing collaboration. In the past, however, civil intelligence agencies had complained against their counterparts in the army about lack of cooperation.

On his arrival at the GHQ, the prime minister was received by the army chief. Mr Sharif visited the martyrs’ monument, laid floral wreath and offered Fateha. Later, the prime minister and the ministers were briefed by the DGMO on the progress of the operation and all related stages, the official press statement released after the meeting said.

The prime minister, according to the statement, expressed satisfaction over the progress of the operation and said: “Our forces are achieving the intended objectives at the desired pace.” He said the whole nation was behind the army fighting this battle for peace and stability in our country.

Mr Sharif said the operation was aimed at establishing the writ of the state. “Chase of terrorists by the armed forces and other law-enforcement agencies and intelligence apparatus will continue till their complete annihilation,” he was quoted as saying.

The meeting also noted with appreciation that Thursday’s anti-terror operation in Lahore by police was based on information provided by an intelligence agency.

The prime minister praised the army for providing security to the Chinese working on different projects in the country. He said the army would be fully equipped and provided all requisite resources to fight this war.

After the meeting, the prime minister directed that damage assessment in the affected areas be carried out for better and planned resource allocation for effective reconstruction and rehabilitation. He said Nadra should expedite the process of verification of IDPs by employing additional manpower and equipment in Bannu district.

The meeting was also attended by the DG ISI, CGS, DGMI, DG ISPR and DG budget.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2014