Pakistan’s army has launched a major military operation on the border with Afghanistan on Sunday and has termed the exercise a “calibrated strike” in militants’ hideout areas, claiming to have killed 29 militants.
The Information Minister Attaullah Tarar stated that the operation was in response to fresh wave of militant attacks on security forces all over Pakistan. The troops were staged close to the border, and demanded the elimination of “safe havens” which are allegedly exploited by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militant groups, the government said.
The armed group came after it attacked the regional headquarters of the Pakistan Rangers a day earlier, killing three soldiers in Karachi. Later, three thieves were killed and another suspect was arrested, the military said, though it did not identify him, but claimed him to be an Afghan national. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group of Pakistan’s Taliban, is responsible for the attack.
Pakistan claims bases have been set up along the border in Afghanistan from which the TTP has been launching attacks inside Pakistan. The Pakistani Taliban are different from the ruling Afghan Taliban, but are believed to be ideological allies.
Already troubled ties between Islamabad and Kabul are likely to deteriorate further with the latest military incursion. This comes after Pakistan’s military or security forces targeted suspected militant camps in Pakistan’s neighbor Afghanistan earlier this month and while the two countries continue to blame each other for cross-border terrorism.
Despite several cessation of hostilities meeting between Pakistan and Afghanistan, hundreds of lives have been lost in the wake of repeated military tension between the two nations since February. China has also tried to promote dialogue between the two neighbors, requesting both sides refrain from further escalation and seek peace through dialogue.
The Afghan authorities have not said anything immediately commenting on Sunday’s operation. In the meanwhile, the Pakistani security alert is also breathing fire in the border turbulent scenario in case of any other retaliatory attack.