The Prime Minister’s Office on Monday sought to ease concerns over the announced Operation Azm-e-Istehkam, stressing it did not call for the launch of any “large-scale military operation” in the country.
“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,” read a statement, referring to previous military operations that targeted militancy in the country’s northern areas. It said the previous kinetic operations were conducted to physically dislodge terrorists from locations within Pakistan that had become “no-go areas” and compromised the writ of the state. “These operations required mass displacement of the local population and systematic clearance of affected areas,” it recalled.
According to the PMO statement, the country no longer has such “no-go” areas, and the ability of terrorist entities to carry out large-scale organized operations was decisively degraded by earlier kinetic operations. “Therefore, no large-scale military operation is being contemplated where displacement of population will be required,” it added.
Rather, per the statement, Operation Azm-e-Istehkam is a multi-domain, multi-agency, whole-of-the-system national vision for enduring stability in Pakistan. It is aimed at reinvigorating and re-energizing the ongoing implementation of the revised National Action Plan, which was initiated after national consensus across the political spectrum in 2015.
The new operation would also energize, claimed the statement, existing intelligence-based kinetic operations to decisively root out the nebulous and shadowy presence of remnants of terrorists; their facilitation due to crime-terror nexus; and violent extremism in the country. This, it said, would ensure an overall secure environment in the country for its economic development and prosperity.
“This will include political, diplomatic, legal and information prongs apart from already continuing operations by all law enforcement agencies,” read the statement, adding this clarification should address all misunderstandings and settle unnecessary debate on the subject.
The statement was issued amidst protest against any proposed military operation from various opposition parties, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Awami National Party (ANP), who have demanded Parliament be taken into confidence prior to its launch.