PESHAWAR: Ruling out any talks with the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has said that Pakistan is powerful enough to fight them even for the next 100 years.
“Don’t you see that their people are being killed daily? Our people are also being martyred. So what kind of talks or impediments [you are talking about]? They are killing my children and I am killing them,” he told the media during his visit to Peshawar on Friday.
“The state of Pakistan is so powerful to fight the TTP, not just one year rather 100 years,” the interim premier said.
Asked what were the impediments in talks with the TTP, the PM said the biggest obstacle was that no one was willing to talk to them. “We don’t want to talk to them. Who told you that we have any intention to talk with TTP.”
Pakistan has seen a surge in terrorism in recent months, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, where the TTP militants have targeted security forces and innocent civilians.
In response, the security forces have upped their operations against the terrorists and also asked illegal immigrants to leave Pakistan by November 1 — as several Afghan nationals were involved in attacks on forces.
Rubbishing the notion of any registered Afghan refugees being expelled from Pakistan, Premier Kakar clarified that only the foreigners living illegally in the country would be expelled.
Through such measures, he went on to say, Pakistan does not want to undermine its relationship with Afghanistan but rather desires to have ties based on international standards in which the movement of the people would be subject to visas.
The caretaker prime minister said as the illegal residents had no registration in Pakistan’s database, the state was unable to distinguish between those playing a productive role in society and the criminals challenging the writ of the state.
He clarified that the expulsion of illegal residents was not out of any vengeance rather the state wanted to rid the country of those causing social ills as well as becoming a challenge of terrorism and crimes.
