PESHAWAR: Peace can be restored in restive areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa within three months if members of the Area Representative and Development Council (ARDC), along with support from residents, successfully convince terrorists to leave their respective regions,saidspokespersonforthe12 designated terrorist-affected districts ofthe province Mehmood Jan Babar on Wednesday.
‘The prime minister gave a clear message to ARDC members that he does not want them to fight terrorists but to tell them [terrorists] to leave their areas. If ARDC members and residents succeed in doing this, their areas will be cleared [of terrorists] within the next three months and militancy will never return, Mr Jan told a news conference at Peshawar’s police headquarters here.
Mr Jan said efforts to combat terrorism would face hurdles similar to those encountered in the past under the previous government.He said Afghan soil was continuously used to carry out terrorist activities against Pakistan.
‘Pakistan has always presented its anti-terrorism case before the world along with evidence. It is not just one terrorist but a whole series, a chain that shows no sign of coming to an end. They take advantage of the cover of darkness, enter Pakistan and plan [terrorist activities],’ he said.
Mr Jan said that Pakistan’s security personnel were prepared to confront those terrorists.
He said law-enforcement agencies had arrested an Afghan terrorist.
Additional Inspector General for the designated districts Abbas Ahsan, who also attended the news conference, said security forces and law-enforcement agencies arrested a former member of the Afghan National Army (ANA) on Nov 7 for involvement in terrorist activities in Pakistan.
He said the arrest of Hikmatullah alias Hamza came during an intelligence-based operation in Tirah valley of Khyber tribal district as he was planning an attack on a security checkpost.
He said the detainee had served in the ANA, started teaching at a seminary in Jalalabad before joining terrorist outfits and even trained a suicide bomber.
The additional IG said the Afghan terrorist had been associated with several groups, including the banned Hafiz GulBahadur Group, and had confessed to involvement in terrorist activities in Pakistan.
He said Hikmatullah belonged to Mangyar village in the Chamkani area of Afghanistan’s Paktia province and had crossed into Pakistan.
‘From his arrest, we have learned who his facilitators are here, who has been assisting him, who his facilitators in Afghanistan are, where he received training and where he planned to carry out terrorist activities in Pakistan,’ he said.
Mr Ahsan claimed that Hikmatullah had received three months of terrorist training and another three months of commando training while serving in the ANA. After the Afghan army was dissolved, he began using his skills in various seminaries, according to the official.
He said Pakistan had been combating terrorism for more than two decades, with lawenforcement and security agencies fighting the war courageously.
‘We utilised human resources, human intelligence besides all available electronic resources to arrest this Afghan national,’ he said.
Mr Ahsan said the detainee had attempted to attack a security post before being tracked down and arrested.
He added that suicide bomber Akrama the detainee had trained would also be arrested soon.The AIG said mobile phone data, calls and locations in Afghanistan and Pakistan were being tracked and that further details would be shared with people soon.
He alleged that Afghanistan was providing facilitation to those planning terrorist attacks in Pakistan, including open recruitment and planning activities on its soil.
Mr Ahsan said the 12 districts had been designated for the imposition of an emergency due to the delicate law and order situation, while a special funding package had been prepared for them, with 40pc to be spent on building the capacity of the police.
He also said the use of drones by terrorists had emerged as a challenge last year, with attacks targeting police, security forces and even civilians.
The official said anti-drone systems were being installed, while anti-drone guns were being provided to security personnel.
He said long-range anti-drone systems were being installed in the Lakki Marwat, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan districts to provide coverage across the cities.
Mr Ahsan said similar systems would be installed in other districts in the next six months, with medium-range systems to be deployed in smaller cities.
Later, a video was played showing the Afghan detainee confessing to involvement in terrorist activities in Pakistan.