The members of the Senate Defence Committee who returned from a tour of North Waziristan were informed by the army that the security forces are not making any distinction in fighting militants of all hues in North Waziristan and have destroyed the infrastructure of the Haqqani network as well as other terrorist groups operating in the area targeted during the Zerb-e-Azb operation.
Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, who is also chairman of the Senate Defence Committee, said General Officer Commanding Maj Gen Zafarullah Khan showed them the Haqqanis’ destroyed infrastructure, including their living quarters and staging grounds.
“The purpose of showing us this was to demonstrate that the army is not distinguishing between ‘good and bad Taliban’ in carrying out this operation,” he said.
According to the briefing the senators received from the military authorities, 1,300 terrorists have been killed, 600 surrendered and 233 have been arrested since the launch of Zarb-i-Azb operation in June last year.
On the army’s side, 63 soldiers have laid down their lives and 238 have been wounded in the line of duty.
The delegation, which went to the restive tribal area at the invitation of Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif, was the first-ever parliamentary committee to visit the newly cleared parts of North Waziristan.
Senator Mushahid said the delegation stayed in North Waziristan for a few hours. They were accompanied by the GOC in jeeps through war battered Miramshah. They visited bazaars, streets and residential areas in Miranshah and were shown the terrorists’ destroyed infrastructure, he said.
He said the GOC had told the senators that 40 factories producing illicit arms, ammunition and IEDs had been demolished and 137 tons of explosives recovered. They were also shown bunkers and basements where ammunition, explosives and hate literature had been recovered.
