WASHINGTON: US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller has said that Pakistani people have suffered tremendously from terrorist attacks, adding no nation should have to suffer such acts of terror.
Briefing the media persons in Washington, he said that Washington and Islamabad have a shared interest in combating threats to regional security. He said, “We support Pakistan’s efforts to combat terrorism and ensure the safety and security of its people in a manner that promotes the rule of law and protection of human rights”.
The spokesperson said that their partnership with Pakistan on security issues includes our high-level counterterrorism dialogue, including funding robust counterterrorism capacity-building programmes and supporting a series of Pak-US military-to-military engagements.
Responding to a question, Matthew Miller said that they are concerned by reports of mob violence in Swat.
The federal cabinet of Pakistan approved the Azm-e-Istehkam operation, along with other decisions made by the Central Apex Committee. Earlier, the government of Pakistan decided to launch Operation ‘Azm-e-Istehkam,’ to eradicate extremism and terrorism from the country. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved a reinvigorated and re-energized national counter-terrorism campaign during a meeting of the Central Apex Committee on National Action Plan.
JUI-F and PTI opposed the operation and demanded to discuss the matter in the country’s parliament while PPP supported the anti-military operation.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that the planned anti-terrorism campaign ‘Azm-e-Istehkam’ would not involve a large-scale military operation or the mass displacement of local populations.
Instead, the PM described it as a comprehensive national strategy of a multifaceted cooperation of various security agencies and the entire state system to decisively eliminate the presence of terrorists and extremism.
