PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s top military commander fighting militants in the northwest Saturday said Pakistan will act against terrorist safe havens and urged Nato and Afghanistan to do the same.
Lieutenant General Asif Yasin Malik, who is supervising military operations in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told reporters that his troops would not leave the area until complete security had been ensured.
“We will take action against the terrorists in our area and Nato and Afghanistan should also take action against them (terrorists) in their area across the border,” he said.
Malik was speaking during a visit to the development projects started by Pakistan army in the Kotkai area of South Waziristan tribal district on the Afghan border, where the military launched a ground offensive two years ago.
“Pakistan will not tolerate any infiltration in its area. The Afghan government and Nato should not allow terrorists’ safe havens in Afghan provinces along the Pakistan border,” he said.
“Our troops will stay here until complete security is ensured in this area, the Pakistan army is not going back from the tribal regions,” Malik said,
Militants are dug in on both sides of the border, and last week the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Pakistan to do more to squeeze militant safe havens in its territory, notably those of the Haqqani network.
