Director General (DG) ISPR Major General Babar Iftikhar said Monday that people were the part and parcel of Operation Raddul Fasaad launched in February 2017 and that terrorism could only be defeated by the law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) with the support of people.

Giving an overview of the dividends earned through Operation Raddul Fasaad, which was launched on February 22 four years ago, the DG ISPR said this operation was not area-specific and its domain extended to the entire country.

Giving reasons why Operation Raddul Fasaad was launched in 2017, he said that at that time terrorists were spreading their network in the entire country.

DG ISPR said one of the components of Operation Raddul Fasaad was that it was the state, and not private militias, that wielded power. “It is the writ of the state which is to be enforced,” he added.

Another component, he said, was to counter the ideology of militants.

"The strategic intent of Raddul Fasaad was, and is, a peaceful, stable and normalised Pakistan where people's confidence in the state is restored and terrorists and extremists are rendered completely ineffective by curtailing their freedom of action," he said.

DG ISPR said army had been regaining hold of the tribal areas since 2010. “And Operation Raddul Fasaad was launched to consolidate those wins and make them irreversible,” he informed.

"Considering this environment, Operation Raddul Fasaad was launched through a two-pronged strategy involving counterterrorism domain and counter violent extremism," he said, adding that the basic cardinals of the counterterrorism plan were that the use of power is the privilege of the state only; stability on the western zone through an effective border management system; and ending terrorists' support base across the country.

He said over 34, 000 intelligence-based operations had been conducted in Punjab during the past four years due to which urban terrorism was largely contained.

He appreciated the role of Pak Army, police, Rangers and other law-enforcement agencies in the operation, which resulted in retrieving the state land from the terrorists.

Around 353 terrorists were gunned down while hundreds were arrested during the last four years.

Major General Babar added that special focus was made on beefing up the law-enforcement agencies.

He informed that the Ministry of Interior was responsible for the border management now.

DG ISPR also shed light on the demining operations in the tribal areas. “Around 48, 000 mines have been cleared by now,” he disclosed.

He said more than 42 per cent reduction in checkposts was done in the tribal areas due to improvement in the law and order situation.

He said the return of internally displaced people was a painstaking effort. He further said military courts were set up, assets of militants were frozen.

He added that hate speech was controlled with the support of Ulema who issued an edict in this regard and also paid tributes to Ulema of all schools of thought.

Similarly, he informed, that the world was informed about the terrorist attacks being funded by India.

Major General Babar Iftikhar said the visible improvement had been seen in Karachi’s law and order situation which was on the sixth number the world over in terms of crime rate in 2014, and now it is on 106th.

DG ISPR said now sports activities had resumed in the country. He told the media that Pakistan Army was playing its part in the battle against coronavirus and polio.

He was all praise for the media which he said covered the events objectively.

He said the increased economic activities and initiation of mega projects including CPEC were dividends of the operation.

He said it was a long journey from terrorism to tourism and now Pakistan has once again becoming a major attraction as a tourist destination and tourists are visiting northern areas and K2.

He said this year national parade would be held on 23rd March.

“But still we are a long way to go,” he admitted and hoped that with the support of people Pak Army would get over all the obstacles.

He said the army was alive to the challenges. “We will take care,” he assured.

ISPR spokesman admitted that social media was so vast that it could not be regulated easily.