After an acrimonious verbal confrontation between Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) General Rizwan Akhtar and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif during an all party meeting on Monday, the Pakistan government headed by Nawaz Sharif has delivered an unprecedented warning to the Pakistan Army.
According to a report in The Dawn, the Nawaz Sharif government has warned Pakistan Army to either act against militants operating from Pakistani soil or be ready to face international isolation.
The report says that Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif complained to the ISI DG in the meeting that whenever the civilian government arrests militants, the military gets them released. An embarrassed ISI DG asked the Punjab CM to suggest how to handle the situation.
At this point, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif intervened in the discussion and it was decided that General Rizwan Akhtar will visit all the four provinces with a message for provincial apex committees and ISI sector commanders. He was asked to meet the Chief Ministers and other officials to devise the strategy to tackle militants.
General Rizwan Akhtar will also convey the message to everybody that military-led intelligence agencies are not to interfere if law enforcement acts against militant groups that are banned or until now considered off-limits for civilian action.
Nawaz Sharif pointed out in the meeting that no country was listening to Pakistan as far as the issue of terrorism was concerned. He said that even China has made it clear that it can’t create obstacles beyond a point as far as UN sanctions against Azhar Masood were concerned.
The report says that Nawaz Sharif also issued directions for making fresh attempts to conclude the Pathankot investigation and restart the stalled Mumbai attacks-related trials in a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court.
