Former top commander calls for action against Lal Masjid cleric

Speaking during ARY News show ‘Power Play’, the retired military officer said that the country’s anti-terror plan shall not allow clerics like Abdul Aziz to operate freely and “whoever is in government must take action against him”.

 “A cleric who has openly voiced support for Daesh (ISIS) is roaming freely in Islamabad, does our National Action Plan (NAP) allow this?,” Tariq Khan asked the show host Arshad Sharif.

TTP ended negotiations with PML-N govt

Stressing upon the need of nation’s support in the anti-terror operation, Khan claimed that before Zarb-i-Azb, the PTI led KP government had passed a unanimous resolution that military action will not be taken against Taliban which stopped the military from a decisive action.

“Then came PML-N and started negotiations with the extremists. It is the Taliban which ended negotiations with the government, otherwise the government’s plan was to talk their way to peace,” claimed the war veteran.

The former commander maintained that the Karachi airport attack and other terror related incidents paved the way for the military to start Zarb-i-Azb.

About the terrorist network in the country, Khan claimed that terrorists in the country are getting manpower mostly from Southern Punjab while their money flows from Karachi.

A Terrorist became a PM in India 

About the regional threats, the former commander said that the Pakistan has no story to tell to the world regarding regional threats.

“Never in an intelligence operation, a senior Indian military officer (Jhadav) was arrested like the one nabbed in Balochistan but everybody is quiet. We don’t have a story to tell. They (India) burned Samjhota Express, their prime minister (Modi) was on the watch list and could not get a US visa, he was a terrorist who became a prime minister, why can’t we tell this to world,” asked Tariq Khan.

Military fully supporting democratic government

Answering a question, Tariq Khan maintained that the current military setup is fully supporting the democratic government and all speculations about “not being on one page” and differences are false.

“I have served for 37 years and have never seen such a benign military which is supporting this democracy and this government,” said the former commander.

He explained that making foreign policy is the role and right of the civilian government but national security issues are discussed with the military as it plays central role in the country’s security.