ISLAMABAD: Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has said that a military operation against banned TTP in tribal areas may be launched in March.
In an interview to foreign news agency Reuters, Khawaja Asif said the army will not show reluctance in bombarding militants’ hideouts in tribal areas. Pakistan could launch a full-scale military operation against Pakistani Taliban insurgents in tribal areas near the Afghan border as early as this month, the defence minister said, warning insurgents against violating a ceasefire. Khawaja Asif told that the government would not hesitate to bomb militant hideouts or send forces into the tribal areas if the Pakistani Taliban did not abide by the ceasefire announced last weekend. It will not take months now. We ll have to march in the month of March," Asif said in the interview on Thursday, describing the governments response if insurgents persisted in their attacks despite the ceasefire. If there is a ceasefire, it has to be complete. Without that, we just can t afford to have talks with the Taliban.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said in an interview that government cannot believe the Taliban's argument that splinter groups had launched the recent attack in Islamabad adding that Pakistan could launch a full-scale military operation against Pakistani Taliban insurgents in the tribal areas near the Afghan border as early as this month in case the ceasefire was violated. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told Reuters in an interview that the government would not hesitate to bomb militant hideouts or send forces into the tribal areas if the Taliban did not abide by the ceasefire announced last weekend.
