DG ISPR lauds perfor\u00admance of securi\u00adty forces for the signif\u00adicant decrea\u00adse in terror\u00adist activi\u00adty across the countr\u00ady
\nnews desk
\nrawalpindi
\nDirector General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor said the Pakistan Army is focused on improving bilateral relations with India.
\nAddressing a press conference, the head of the military\u2019s media wing regretted that the country\u2019s eastern neighbour has not agreed on resuming dialogue with Pakistan and criticised the hardline BJP-led government for the deterioration of ties.
\nReferring to the recent opening of the visa-free Kartarpur corridor, Gen Ghafoor said the initiative was taken to facilitate the Sikh community and to ease their pilgrimage. He added Kartarpur will be solely a one-way transit passage and Pakistanis will not be able to use the corridor to travel to India.
\n\u201cThe corridor will be completed in six months,\u201d said the army official.
\nGen Ghafoor also told the media that in 2018, Indian forces have killed 55 civilians and injured more than 300 in incidents of unprovoked firing across the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary.
\nSecurity
\nGhafoor said terror incidents had reduced significantly across the country in 2018.
\n\u201cWe pray for a day when there is no terror attack.\u201d He added that terrorist incidents and abductions in Balochistan had reduced greatly.
\nReferring to the tribal districts, he said despite the area making up about three per cent of the geographic area of the country, 200,000 troops were deployed there. Ghafoor spoke of the improved law and order situation in Karachi and said the Rangers should be commended for restoring \u201cKarachi\u2019s lights\u201d and claimed there were no terrorist attacks in Karachi in 2017 and only two in 2018.
\nA total of 44 major operations have been conducted under Raddul Fasad across the country, he said.
\nThe general regretted that despite recovering 4.3 million units of arms and ammunition, the country had not been de-weaponised.
\nAddressing what he referred to as the three demands of Pashtuntun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), he informed those present that although the army had been asked to deal more strictly with the movement, as PTM was non-violent, the army did not resort to such measures.
\nHe said while checkpoints in northern areas had been reduced from 469 to 300 as there was no assurance from Afghanistan that border threats had been eliminated, all checkpoints could not be removed. He said 43 teams were working in different districts and 44 per cent of mines had been cleared, referring to the second demand of the movement.
\n\u201cWe request PTM not to cross the line otherwise the state will have to take action.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DG ISPR lauds perfor\u00admance of securi\u00adty forces for the signif\u00adicant decrea\u00adse in terror\u00adist activi\u00adty across the countr\u00ady news desk rawalpindi Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor said the Pakistan Army is focused on improving bilateral relations with India. Addressing a press conference, the head of the military\u2019s media wing regretted that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23306,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-38955","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n