Azm-e-Istehkam nothing like previous ‘large-scale military op’, clarifies PM Office

ISLAMABAD: The federal government said that “Operation Azm-e-Istehkam” aimed at reinvigorating and re-energizing the ongoing implementation of the Revised National Action Plan is being erroneously misunderstood.

A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday said the recently announced vision for enduring stability named Azm-e-Istehkam is being erroneously misunderstood and compared with earlier launched kinetic operations like Zarb-e-Azab, Rah-e-Najaat, etc.

The clarification came apparently in the wake of intense opposition criticism of the government’s plans to launch military operations to eliminate terrorism, demanding that parliament must be taken into confidence before taking any such decision.

“The previous kinetic operations were conducted to physically dislodge terrorists from their known locations which had become No-Go areas and compromised the writ of the state,” the PM Office said, adding that these operations required mass displacement of the local population and systematic clearance of affected areas.

There are no such No-Go areas in the country since the ability of terrorist entities to carry out large-scale organized operations inside Pakistan was decisively degraded by earlier kinetic operations, the statement added.

It further clarified that the government has not planned any large-scale military operation where displacement of population will be required. “Azm-e-Istehkam is a multi-domain, multi-agency, whole of the system national vision for enduring stability in Pakistan,” it said.

Furthermore, the PMO statement added, that Azm-e-Istehkam is aimed at energizing already in place intelligence-based kinetic operations so as to decisively root out the nebulous and shadowy presence of remnants of terrorists, their facilitation due to crime-terror nexus, and rooting out violent extremism in the country to ensure an overall secure environment in the country for its economic development and prosperity.

The operation will include political, diplomatic, legal, and information prongs apart from already continuing operations by all Law Enforcement Agencies, the Prime Minister’s Office said, adding that this should address all the misunderstandings as well as settle unnecessary debate on the subject.