ISLAMABAD, March 7: Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao on Tuesday hinted at involvement of ‘external hands’ in the unrest in Waziristan and Balochistan, saying the ongoing operations in the areas would continue till their ‘logical conclusion’.
After attending a high level meeting on law and order situation in Miramshah, Mir Ali and Balochistan, the minister told journalists that writ of government would be established in the troubled areas ‘at any cost’.
He said the meeting had decided to close down FM radio channels being run by two sectarian groups in Khyber Agency and spreading religious hatred.
Mr Sherpao said the law and order situation was still out of control in Khyber Agency due to fighting between two sectarian groups, headed by Maulvi Saifur Rehman and Mufti Munir Shakir.
“More Frontier Constabulary personnel are being deployed in the tribal area to tackle the situation,” the minister said.
Answering a question about involvement of external hands in local unrest, the minister said the intelligence agencies had solid evidences of involvement of ‘neighbouring countries’ from Pakistan’s western and eastern borders.
The minister said infiltration continued from Afghanistan due to lack of Afghan government’s writ in its provinces bordering Pakistan. “Now Pakistan alone is confronting the infiltrators coming from Afghanistan,” he said.
The Afghan government, he said, had not only failed to stop infiltration of terrorists into Pakistan but menace of poppy cultivation and gun running had also increased in Afghanistan.
Answering to a question about Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, he said neither the government had any contact with Mr Bugti nor he had been allowed to leave the country.
About recent suicide bombing outside US Consulate in Karachi, the minister said the suicide attacker was Pakistani. “We have obtained useful information about the attackers but it cannot be shared with the press at the moment,” he said.
The meeting was attended by Secretary Interior Ministry Kamal Shah, National Crisis Management Cell Director-General Brig Javed Iqbal Cheema and senior officials of the FC, Frontier police and interior ministry.
The inspectors-general of the FC and Frontier police gave separate briefings about law and order situation in their areas.