The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday said that the temporary pause in Operation Ghazab lil-Haq against the Afghan Taliban had concluded and the operation would continue “until its objectives are achieved”.
FO Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi made the remarks while answering questions during his weekly press briefing regarding whether the pause had been extended.
“Operation Gazab Lil-Haq is ongoing. It is a precise, targeted operation, military campaign directed against terrorist leadership and their support and command, infrastructure, logistics, logistic networks and facilitators and abettors of these terrorist acts within the Taliban regime and in the Taliban controlled area,” he said.
Andrabi said that a temporary pause was observed in “deferrence to Eidul Fitr celebrations and in response to requests from our brotherly Islamic countries”.
“The pause has concluded [on] midnight between, I think, March 23 and 24. So, operations under Operation Gazab Lil Haq continue now until the objectives are achieved, and until the Afghan Taliban regime reviews its misplaced priority of supporting terror infrastructures and terror proxies over the welfare of their own Afghan people. So, our position is anchored in this broad policy statement,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Torkham border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan was reopened on Thursday for the return of stranded and illegal Afghan nationals after remaining closed since February 26.
Officials at the temporary transit centre established near Hamza Baba mausoleum in Landi Kotal said that as many as 50 Afghans, awaiting their deportation since the last week of February, were the first to undergo the clearance process after they received a green signal from Islamabad for resumption of the registration process.
They said all 50 Afghan nationals were lodged at a mosque in Landi Kotal bazaar since Feb 26 and they were brought to the center on Thursday morning after permission for registration was granted by the interior ministry.
They added that another batch of around 100 Afghans was also brought to the centre from Peshawar after the clearance of the first batch, with immigration authorities facilitating their prompt deportation both at the temporary transit center and at Torkham.
Officials said that some stranded families whose travel documents had expired or were without visas and passports were also allowed to go back to Afghanistan after the completion of their registration at the transit centre.
They further informed that names and related particulars of Pakistani nationals were also handed over to border security officials for their safe return after officials held a brief meeting with their Afghan counterparts at the border Zero Point.
Slams Asiya Andrabi’s sentencing
Replying to a question about reaction of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on Pakistan response over sentence awarded to Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders Asiya Andrabi and others, the FO Spokesperson dismissed the Indian statement with the contempt that it deserves. India cannot conflate legitimate political dissent in pursuit of fundamental political rights with terrorism.
Tahir Andrabi said this is an old bogey of India that subsume everything, every political, legitimate political rights movement into terrorism.
About India’s judicial process, the FO Spokesperson said concerns about their impartiality have been raised even by their own judges. He said the principal accused of Samjhota Express bombing case, who had confessed the crime, they got acquitted, raising serious questions about accountability and due process in India’s judicial system.
Tahir Andrabi reiterated that Pakistan strongly condemns and unequivocally rejects the sentencing of prominent Kashmiri political leaders. The verdict reflects the pattern of political vendetta.