PESHAWAR, Pakistan: The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has observed that for optimum effect of sealing movement of terrorists either side, border management will have to be bilateral both by Pakistan and Afghanistan on their respective sides.
The COAS made these remarks when he visited Corps Headquarters Peshawar on Monday for an in depth briefing on current state of security operations and the way forward in Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Malakand Divisions.
During his visit, the COAS reviewed progress towards border management and directed to expedite all construction work and capacity building of Frontier Corps (FC) to effectively check all illegal cross border movement.
The Army Chief was also apprised about concentration of terrorists across the border in Afghanistan and their continued efforts for an activity inside Pakistan.
In his remarks on the occasion, the COAS appreciated the gains of counter terrorism operations so far, and said that focus must remain on indiscriminate intelligence based operations (IBOs), combing operations for stabilisation and consolidation.
“Nexus between terrorists in remote areas and their facilitators in urban centres will be severed whatever the amount of effort and time,” the COAS said.
General Bajwa also said that having created conditions for governance and socio- eco reforms, Army will stand by our valiant tribals and work with the government to bring about an equitable development across FATA for peace and prosperity in the entire region.
The COAS particularly emphasised on progress of return of temporarily displaced person (TDPs) and directed completion of their dignified return. He said that TDPs must be helped to resettle in their native towns with social infrastructure in place, in conjunction with the civil government.
Earlier on arrival at Peshawar, the COAS was received by Corps Commander 11 Corps Lt General Hidayat ur Rehman.
