The Pakistan Army has successfully completed the Operation Khyber-II that was being conducted in the Tirah region, the completion of the operation was announced on the first anniversary of the ongoing Operation Zarb-i-Azb. The operation Khyber-II was launched in March, after the military cleared much of the Bara plain in Operation Khyber-I, this follow-on operation in Khyber Agency was meant to clear the Tirah region consisting of challenging deep valleys and high mountains. The prime threat in the Tirah region came from the TTP; the Mangal Bagh-led Lashkar-i-Islam; which is a breakaway TTP faction, the Jamaatul Ahrar; and sundry foreign militants.
Chief of the Army Staff General Raheel Sharif on Friday directed all concerned law-enforcing agencies to continue intelligence-based operations (IBOs) in the country to apprehend all terrorists, their facilitators, abettors and financiers from across the country without any discrimination and irrespective of the cost. “We will not stop unless we achieve our end objective of a terror-free Pakistan,” General Raheel Sharif remarked while addressing troops at North Waziristan. General Sharif also visited forward locations close to the Pak–Afghan border in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) and was briefed in detail by the formation commander about progress of Operation Zarb-i-Azb, and plans to clear the remaining pockets of terrorists in Shawal region.
He appreciated the role of special integrated teams which have been responsible for carrying out IBOs across the urban areas of Pakistan. The teams have been successful in severing links between terrorist’s sanctuaries in remote areas and their sleeper cells in urban areas. While acknowledging the hardships and sacrifices of internally-displaced persons (IDPs), the army chief asked all stakeholders to ensure a dignified and expeditious return for IDPs to a better built and rehabilitated region.
The way the army has been conducting these operations it won’t be long before the cancer of terrorism is rooted out from Pakistan.