The federal cabinet on Tuesday approved the decisions taken by the National Action Plan’s Central Apex Committee, including the Operation Azm-e-Istehkam.
As per the sources, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said citizens would not face any trouble during the operation and neither would their houses be raided.
“Only intelligence-based operations would be carried out against terrorists,” PM was quoted by the sources as saying.
The decision has come after the Apex Committee last Saturday gave the go-ahead to the military operation, which is a reinvigorated and re-energised national counter-terrorism drive, to turn up the heat on militants targeting Pakistan.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had said that the new counter-terrorism push was approved with the consensus of all stakeholders including provinces, Gilgit Baltistan (GB) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
However, opposition parties including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam Fazl (JUI-F), Awami National Party (ANP), and others have voiced concerns over the military operation, demanding that parliament must be taken into confidence before taking any such decision.
To resolve the issue, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said the government would satisfy the PTI and other opposition parties over the military operation.
Asif said that the federal government would ensure providing satisfactory answers to the concerns of the PTI over the anti-militancy operation.
“We will create a consensus among the [parties]. The opposition parties and allies. We will give them ample time to discuss this issue. Whatever their questions or concerns, it will be responded to in a satisfying manner.”
Meanwhile, as per the Prime Minister’s Office, Shehbaz took members of the federal cabinet into confidence over misunderstandings and speculations about the vision of Azm-e-Istehkam.
“Azm-e-Istehkam is a collective multidimensional operation and national vision of the entire state system, which will be carried out with the security institutions’ cooperation,” the prime minister said during the federal cabinet meeting in Islamabad.
PM Shehbaz said under this, intelligence-based operations would be intensified, instead of launching a new organised armed operation.
