Pakistan civil, army leadership vows to eliminate terrorism

Islamabad, March 8 (IANS) Pakistan’s top civil-military leadership on Tuesday vowed to eliminate terrorism and reviewed the internal security situation, a day after a suicide bombing claimed 17 lives in a court attack.

In a meeting of the country’s top civil-military leaders, chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the PM House here, the participants condemned the cowardly act of terrorism in Shabqadar in which civilians and law enforcement agency personnel lost their precious lives, a statement said.

“The meeting agreed that elimination of terrorism from our soil is a national resolve and paid tributes to the personnel of law enforcement and security agencies who embraced martyrdom while fighting this menace of terrorism,” it added.

Issues pertaining to national and internal security were discussed during the meeting which was attended by army chief General Raheel Sharif, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar, the prime minister's advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, National Security Advisor Lt-Gen (retd) Nasir Janjua, Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Rizwan Akhtar, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chauhdhary and other senior officials of the government.

The meeting comes a day after 16 people, including three police personnel, were killed in a suicide attack in Charsadda district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Hours after the attack, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) splinter group Jammatul Ahrar claimed responsibility, saying it was a revenge for the execution of then Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer's killer.