Owe achievements of military operations to youth: DG ISPR

RAWALPINDI: The role of the youth in eradicating terrorism as well as their susceptibility to extremist outfits were highlighted in a speech by military spokesperson Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor at a seminar on Thursday.

In his welcome address at the seminar, titled Role of Youth in Rejecting Extremism, the director-general of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the seminar is part of the ongoing Operation Raddul Fasaad (RuF).

He said that Operation RuF is aimed at consolidating gains of all military operations earlier concluded in the kinetic domain and to bring about enduring peace and stability. One of its strands is to eliminate extremism from our society, which becomes more pronounced when we see that the nature and character of this conflict has also changed with the ideology of ISIS [Daesh] which focuses on targeting minds of our youth, he stated further.

“It is our collective duty as a state and individual in our respective domain to shield our youth against this threat. The process involves identification of threat and response measures. Please know that among others, we owe our achievements in the ongoing operations to the youth. Let us not allow their supreme sacrifice to go to waste and convert our achievements into an enduring success,” said the ISPR DG.

Gen Ghafoor explained that during the course of this seminar, they intend to have a full spectrum analysis of the phenomena of extremism. “We look forward to some very healthy and productive interactive session between the speakers and guests. I particularly request the youth to express their opinions freely and ask any question that may be in their minds. I sincerely believe that it is only through free exchange of ideas and courage to differ that the dream of a truly tolerant Pakistan can be realised,” he concluded.

Several senior army officers as well as journalists were among the audience.