Pakistan on Saturday announced the launch of a "reinvigorated" national counter-terrorism campaign to "eradicate extremism and terrorism from the country." Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif made the announcement while chairing a meeting of the country's top counter-terrorism body in the capital Islamabad, according to a statement from his office. The meeting was attended by three armed forces chiefs, as well as chief ministers from all four provinces and the Gilgit-Baltistan region. "The prime minister approved a reinvigorated and re-energized national counter-terrorism campaign through the launching of operation Azm-e-Istehkam (determination for durability) with a consensus of all stakeholders including the provinces, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, symbolizing the national resolve to eradicate extremism and terrorism from the country," the statement added. The campaign will integrate and synergize multiple lines of effort to combat the menaces of extremism and terrorism comprehensively and decisively, it said. "The renewed and full-blown kinetic efforts of the armed forces will be augmented by full support from all Law Enforcement Agencies, empowered by effective legislation to address legal voids that hinder effective prosecution of terrorism-related cases and award of exemplary punishments to them," it added. The campaign is launched amid an escalating wave of terrorism, which has primarily targeted security forces in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southwestern Balochistan provinces in recent years. According to an annual security report issued by the Centre for Research and Security Studies, Pakistan witnessed 1,524 violence-related fatalities and 1,463 injuries from 789 terror attacks and counter-terror operations in 2023, marking a record six-year high. In the politico-diplomatic domain, the meeting resolved that efforts will be intensified to curtail the operational space for terrorists through regional cooperation. — Agencies
