ISLAMABAD: A day after a suicide attacker killed at least 72 and injured over 300 people including women and children at a park in Lahore, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday vowed to not let terrorists raise their head again amid successes achieved in ongoing Operation Zarb-e-Azb.
In a live televised address to the nation, he said no one will be allowed to disrupt peace in the country anymore. “Terrorists should know that failure is their fate,” he saidvowing to crush them.
The prime minster said: “We for the first time in the country’s history showed full political will to eliminate terrorism after assuming power three years ago.”
“Operation Zarb-e-Azb was launched with armed forces to remove the menace of terrorism from the country.
“Our religion is of peace and unity which regards murder of one human as killing of all humanity. We are followers of the Prophet (pbuh) who preached peace and unity.”
Prime Minister Sharif said violence in the name of religion would not be tolerated at any cost.
“Our restraint should not be taken as our weakness,” said the premier, adding that people involved in disrupting peace will be brought to justice at the earliest.
Referring to the recent wave of terrorist attacks around the world, PM Nawaz said terrorism had become a global threat and the whole world was affected by it as recently witnessed in Brussels, Ankara and Paris among other places.
“Operation Zarb-e-Azb will continue till menace of terrorism is rooted out from the country,” he said.
Strongly condemning the cowardly attack in Lahore, PM Nawaz said: “We will not allow terrorists to play with the lives and properties of the innocent masses.”
He said operation Zarb-e-Azb was launched to eliminate terrorists, adding that acts of terrorism have significantly declined in three years, however, the militants were targeting soft targets over the past few months.
Nawaz Sharif said the operation has achieved its major objectives but the mission would continue till complete eradication of terrorism from the country. He vowed that terrorists would be made accountable for every drop of blood of martyrs.
The prime minister also paid his deepest condolences to the injured and the families of Lahore attack victims.
Besides visiting the Jinnah Hospital to inquire about health of the injured, the prime minister also chaired a high-level meeting in Lahore earlier today, a day after a suicide bomber killed over 70 people including women and children at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park.
Following the deadly attack, Sharif had cancelled his foreign trips to the United Kingdom and the United States after holding detailed deliberations at a high-level meeting.
Meanwhile,Army Chief General Raheel Sharif chaired a high-level security meeting to review the progress of a paramilitary operation in Punjab province launched to hunt down terrorists behind the deadly suicide bombing in Lahore.
According to a press statement by DG ISPR Lt-Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa, intelligence agencies with Army and Rangers have so far carried out five operations in Lahore, Faisalabad, and Multan since the attack in the busy Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in the Punjab capital.
PM Nawaz Sharif addresses to the nation -28... by GeoNews