PESHWAR: Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa said on Wednesday that Pakistan and Afghanistan could not afford the risk of lawlessness and chaos as such a situation would have catastrophic consequences for both countries.

A statement issued here said that Gen Bajwa was speaking during his visit to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) to inquire after the health of those who suffered injuries in the bomb blast at Dir Colony madressah on Tuesday.

Gen Bajwa said that Afghan refugees in Pakistan should exercise caution about inimical forces so that they were not wittingly or unwittingly used in terrorist activities. He said that Pakistan always desired peace in Afghanistan and would spare no effort to restore peace and stability in that country.

He said that Pakistan and Afghanistan had faced terrorism for the past two decades. He said that Pakistan opened its arms and doors for its Afghan refugee brethren and that peace of both countries was intertwined.

The army chief said that Pak-Afghan border fence was a fence of peace and it had been set up to stop illegal cross-border movement of terrorists.

He said that on Sept 16, 2014, enemy attacked innocent children of the Army Public School, Peshawar, and on Oct 27, this year, on the occasion of Kashmir Black Day, it attacked the innocent students of a madressah.

At least eight students were killed and about 120 others wounded on Tuesday when a timed device went off inside a mosque in Pesha­war where a large number of seminary students were attending a class.

Gen Bajwa said that a large number of Afghan refugee children were among those injured and killed in the madressah attack.

The army chief said that they would not sit at ease till the elimination of all terrorists and their facilitators, adding that he had come to share the grief of families, students and teachers of the madressah and to express his solidarity with them.

Gen Bajwa also visited the Upper Dir area of Malakand division.

The statement said that Corps Commander of Peshawar Lieutenant General Nauman Mehmood welcomed the COAS on his arrival in Upper Dir. The army chief was briefed about stabilisation operations and border management in the area.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2020