BERLIN: Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt Gen Asim Bajwa has said the narrative that Pakistan has not done enough to fight terrorism is unfair as it does not recognise Pakistan’s contribution to the war against terror.

“The world has abandoned Pak­istan to handle and face terrorists in the region alone, and Pakistan has completed the task,” the ISPR chief said in an interview to Deutsche Welle Urdu on Wed­nesday, according to Dawn.com.

He said Pakistan had done a lot in the war against terrorism and for peace in the world. It had played an unparalleled role against Al Qaeda and all other terrorists that morphed over time, be it after Russian aggression in Afghanistan or the post-9/11 situation, he said, adding that the global community should recognise Pakistan’s perspective and morally support it.

In reply to a question, Gen Bajwa said the Zarb-i-Azb military operation had been launched in Fata, particularly in North Waziristan, to clear the area of terrorists who had been planning and executing their attacks and sending suicide bombers from there. The operation was later expanded to Khyber Agency. Besides, over 18,000 intelligence-based operations were carried out in cities across the country against the terrorists and their facilitators. More than 240 terrorists were killed in these operations.

The ISPR chief claimed that 62pc of the people displaced by the operation in Fata and Wazi­ri­s­tan had been repatriated to their areas and the remaining would return by the end of this year.

He rejected a perception that the army was not taking action against the Haqqani network and said a soldier in a warzone could not discriminate between terrorists and who belonged to which group. He said there are terrorists from the Haqqani network, ETIM, IMU, Al Qaeda and TTP; there were Pakistanis and Afghans and other nationals, and “we fought against all of them”.

Answering a question about the killing of Akhtar Mansour in a US drone attack in Balochistan, Gen Bajwa said the Afghan Taliban leader was part of the reconciliation process in Afghanistan and his elimination was a severe blow to the peace process.

About the internal situation in Pakistan, he said democracy was getting strong in the country and receiving all possible support from the military.

“Consultations are made on all major issues of national security and whenever called, the army supports the civilian government in various issues ranging from natural disasters to development works to law and order. I believe things will get better in the time to come. Pakistan is the main interest of each and every Pakistani,” the ISPR chief said.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2016