"Azm-e-Istehkam" won't be a large-scale operation: PMO

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif clarified that Operation Azm-e-Istehkam would not be a large-scale operation, nor government was deliberating to extend it.

A statement issued by the Prime Minister House late at night on Monday, cleared that Operation ‘Azm-e-Istehkam’ aimed to reinvigorate and re-energise the national counter-terrorism campaign. 

“Recently announced a vision for enduring stability named Azm-e-Istehkam is being erroneously misunderstood and compared with the earlier launch kinetic operations like Zarb-e-Azab, and Rah-e-Najaat etc,” it stated.

However, the government's decision to follow the national action plan was facing criticism from opposition parties, including PTI, JUI-F, and ANP, with the KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur even denying that any such thing was discussed during the meeting of the apex committee.

The opposition demanded the parliament must be taken into confidence before the decision to launch the operation.

“This will include political, diplomatic, legal and information prong a part from already continuing operation by Law Enforcement Agencies,” the PMO statement added.

The statement claimed that Azm-e-Istehkam was a “multi-domain, multi-agency, whole of the system nation vision” for bringing stability to the country.

“It is meant to reinvigorate and re-energise the ongoing implementation of Revised National Action Plan, which was initiated after the national consensus across the political spectrum,” the statement said.

Pakistan witnessed a significant surge in attacks on security forces in recent months despite Islamabad repeatedly admonishing the interim government of Afghanistan to prevent its land from being used by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and other militant organisations aim to deteriorate the law and order situation in Pakistan. 

The decision to launch an anti-militancy operation in the country came at a time when terrorism-related attacks reached a six-year high, with 1000 fatalities in the year.