ISLAMABAD: Proposing the establishment of afacelesscourtforspeedy trial of terrorism cases, Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry on Wednesday warned that terrorism would not end unless convictions were secured and the terror-crime nexus operating from Afghanistan was dismantled.
‘If convictions are not secured despite evidence in the cases, terrorist incidents will not stop,’ Mr Chaudhry told a press conference. ‘We should not just talk about the rights of individuals. The state also has rights.
Detailing recent counterterrorism efforts, he announced that security agencies arrested a man during an intelligencebased operation for supplying illegal weapons to the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (JAAC).
The suspect, identified as Zia, has operated this illegal network for around eight to 10 years, Mr Chaudhry said. Over the past two years, Zia allegedly supplied several weapon consignments to people associated with the JAAC.
The network extends beyond arms trafficking to the smuggling of vehicles, petroland narcotics.
The minister said Zia was in contact with an Afghanistan-based man named Zarshad, who supplied illegally acquired weapons to Pakistan.
Mr Chaudhry accused Afghanistan of serving as a ‘super-proxy’ to spread unrest in Pakistan. He said authorities are conducting nearly 200 intelligence-based operations daily to dismantle terrorist networks funding the proscribed JAAC.
‘This terror-crime nexus, based on the smuggling of narcotics, vehicles and petroleum products, along with the supply of arms, is being sponsored and managed across the border in an organized manner,’ he said, adding that concrete evidence exposing this collusion would soon be presented to the nation.
-Staff Reporter