We should be prepared for the reaction of the operation: Athar Abbas
"Operation Zarb-e-Azb is not a military operation, it is a national operation", said ex DG ISPR
Major General (r) Athar Abbas, Former spokesman of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), has said that Operation Zarb-e-Azb is not just a military operation but it is a national operation against the terrorists and the entire nation backs the Armed Forces of Pakistan against these militants in this operation. He also clarified that his statement about General Kiyani’s reluctance in conducting the operation against the Taliban in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) was in response to a question. He was speaking at a seminar, organized by SEFMA, about the Operation Zarb-e-Azb.
The Major General had mentioned former Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kiyani s indecisiveness in going for the operation against the Taliban during an interview with the BBC. His statement had come under criticism from certain quarters. Some journalists criticized him for spilling things out before foreign media while the Army was in a state of war with the terrorists. Clarifying his stance today, Athar Abbas said that when the operation was being carried out in the South Waziristan Agency, Taliban were completely isolated and launching an operation at that time would have been ideal. Everyone knew at that time that North Waziristan was the new hub of the Taliban and that a strike at the nerve center would cause a fatal blow to their strength. He also mentioned the repeated statements that the US officials were making at that time.
While discussing the prospects of success in the Operation Zarb-e-Azb, he appeared quite confident. He believed that all the cities of North Waziristan will be cleared within a month but also warned of the fallout of the operation. He said that though the area will be cleared, it should not be expected that terrorists will also be killed in large numbers.
"They will retaliate for sure and we must be prepared for their reaction", said the ex-spokesperson of ISPR. Previously, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had also said that to completely get rid of the terrorists in North Waziristan, we will have to induct massive amount of money and the government will not shy away from doing it. Major General (r) Athar Abbas is also of similar opinion. Though he focused only on the military side of the operation and its after-effects, the underlining message is the same as that of Prime Minister that it is actually the reaction of this operation that we must start to focus on.
He also said that it was not his intention to mention his feelings about the delay in the military operation. "It was just that I was giving an interview to the BBC and when they asked why now? Why not earlier? Things started to turn up", said Athar Abbas.
