PESHAWAR: The demands tabled by the Bannu Aman Jirga have been “accepted by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur” which were placed in a meeting held earlier this week, Geo News reported citing sources.
The jirga’s demands will be presented before the apex committee meeting expected to be held tomorrow, wherein the terms of reference (ToRs) for the constitution of a committee to probe into the Bannu incident will be discussed as well, the sources said.
The forthcoming session of the apex committee will be attended by the KP chief secretary, additional secretary home, Corps Commander Peshawar, KP Inspector General (IG), and other senior officers.
The people familiar with the meeting also said the jirga sought to dismantle armed groups operating in the province; empower police and ensure their patrolling at night; allow CTD to conduct search operations or take action against terrorists instead of security forces; and present missing persons before courts.
It was learnt that CM Gandapur responded to queries of Bannu jirga members during the meeting held late Monday.
He said that the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) cleared the air about Operation Azm-e-Istehkam (Resolve for Stability) — a new counterterrorism drive being launched in the aftermath of a surge in terrorist attacks.
The chief minister told the jirga members that the military’s media wing made it clear that Azm-e-Istehkam was “not an operation but a strategy” to root out terrorism and extremism, they added.
It is noteworthy to mention here that several political parties including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), the Awami National Party (ANP), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and others had expressed reservations over the new operation, demanding the authorities to take parliament into confidence.
“Azm-e-Istehkam is a comprehensive and integrated counter-terrorism campaign, not a military operation per se as it is being presented,” the ISPR Director-General Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said while responding to reservations during a press conference in Rawalpindi a day ago.
