An intelligence based joint anti-terrorist operation was conducted by Peshawar Police and personnel of Special Service Group of Army in Phase-7 of posh Hayatabad Township. It lasted for 17 hours in a densely populated street. In the gun battle between the terrorists and security forces a police Assistant Sub-Inspector Qamar Alam was martyred and five terrorists were killed. ISPR has confirmed that an officer and a soldier were injured in cross firing. The operation was conducted under the instructions of Corp Commander Shaheen Mazhar Mahmood to ensure that no collateral damage occurs to human lives and property and disruption in the normal routine life.
After the Army Public School tragedy regulations of hiring houses were made extremely tight for local and non local Pakistanis and foreign nationals, particularly the Afghan nationals. How come that a group of terrorists was allowed to hire a house 15 days ago? Were they holding CNICs or Afghan Refugees Residency Cards? These questions need answers.
It has been amply confirmed that the soil of Afghanistan is used by India for terrorist attacks in the frontline provinces of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and Baluchistan. The terrorists who sneaked into Pakistan get easily morphed with Afghan refugee population and find handlers from either locals or Afghan Refugees who are living in urban and rural areas. A campaign had been launched to oust the Afghan Imams from mosques but was abandoned for no explicit reasons.
Afghan Refugee repatriation plan was started in the government of President Musharraf during which large number of families of Afghan used to be repatriated every day. However, in the absence of a clear border management policy majority of the repatriated Afghan Refugees managed their come back to Pakistan. Now management and control of Pak-Afghan Border is being satisfactorily done, however repatriation of registered Afghan refugees, which was resumed in March, is very slow from Peshawar and Quetta Centers in the absence of clear repatriation plan which the Ministry of SAFRON had promised to chalk out. It may be recalled that in 2017 former Ambassador of Afghanistan Umer Zakhelwal had categorically told all Afghan nationals in a Press Conference to be ready for repatriation and advised them to take part in the reconstruction of their motherland. Two years have passed and no such plan is in sight the preparation of which before the likely political settlement of Afghanistan is very much essential. How long the futile exercise of extension in the deadline of refugee stay shall be done at the expense of national security.
