Photo courtesy ISPR
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen. Asim Munir on Tuesday said this week’s mosque bombing in Peshawar will not shake Pakistan’s resolve to tackle all forms of terrorism with zero tolerance.
Presiding over the 255th Corps Commanders’ Conference at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, the Army chief said “immoral and cowardly” acts like the Peshawar suicide bombing had reinvigorated “our determination to succeed in ongoing war against terror with zero tolerance for any terrorist entity.” According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), he also directed all commanders to focus on anti-terror operations in coordination with intelligence and law-enforcement agencies until sustainable peace could be achieved.
On Monday, a suicide bomber detonated himself in a mosque at Peshawar’s Police Lines area, leading to the deaths of over 100 people and injuring more than 200 others. The assault has raised concerns over the country’s security situation, with Pakistanis nationwide demanding that the government and military ensure such attacks do not recur. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) initially claimed responsibility for the blast but later recanted, though reports suggest it was perpetrated by a splinter faction that remains allied with the primary group. Following the attack, the political leadership has renewed calls for a nationwide operation to root out terrorism, stressing the country cannot afford to return to the days of near-daily terror attacks.
According to the ISPR, the participants of the conference were briefed in detail about “prevailing and emerging threats,” the prevailing situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu Kashmir, and ongoing intelligence-based operations aimed at “breaking the nexus between terrorists and their support mechanism across the country.”
The forum paid tributes to the martyrs of the Peshawar attack and vowed that “the perpetrators will be brought to exemplary justice,” the ISPR said, adding that human rights violations in IIOJK and “Indian designs” to alter the region’s demographics also came under discussion. It said the CCC had reaffirmed the Army’s commitment to “Pakistan’s principal support to indigenous freedom struggle of brave Kashmiri people as per relevant U.N. resolutions and aspirations of the people of the Kashmir.”