ISLAMABAD: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif said that a “massive, illegal political mafia” in the country was trying to sabotage the state’s Azm-i-Istehkam (Resolve for Stability) campaign to fulfil its vested interests.
Addressing a press conference in Rawalpindi, the military’s spokesperson said that the purpose of his presser was to “clarify the army’s stance on some important topics”, amid the recent rise of “organised propaganda” against the armed forces based on “false and concocted news”.
Responding to a question regarding the potential of displacement in key areas as a result of the said operation, Lt Gen Sharif said that “very important issues were being sacrificed on the altar of politics”, adding that Azm-i-Istehkam was one such example.
He stressed that it was a “comprehensive counter-terrorism campaign” launched through national consensus and was “not just a military operation as it was being portrayed”.
Last month, the federal government approved the operation to counter a sharp rise in terrorist attacks across the country, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, after the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022.
“A narrative is being built that the operation would displace people […] but the purpose of the operation was only to reinvigorate the already in-place National Action Plan (NAP),” the DG ISPR said, adding that the document of the operation clearly mentioned that.
“A massive illegal, political mafia rose to sabotage the campaign and the first move of that mafia was to make the operation controversial through false and fake arguments.”
Without naming who he was referring to, Lt Gen Sharif added that a “very strong lobby” had a “vested interest” because of which it didn’t want the NAP to succeed, adding that the entity in question was “receiving a lot of money” to subvert the campaign.
“The stakes in [sabotaging] this [campaign] are very high, and it’s not based on any ideology but involves a lot of money,” he said.He said if Operation Azm-i-Istehkam was properly implemented, it would not only eliminate terrorism but also lead to societal and national uplift.
Questioned about an alleged audio leak of TTP chief Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, the DG ISPR questioned what brand of Islam the militant was preaching that involved blowing up schools, colleges, hospitals, and homes.
