Dar says 2018 deal with Kabul, release of militants behind rise in terrorism

• Ishaq Dar says no one in Pakistan is safe now. 
• Dar calls for in-camera briefing on terrorism.
• Raza Rabbani blames establishment for rise in terroism.

ISLAMABAD: Leader of the House in the Senate Ishaq Dar on Friday said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) 2018 deal on terrorists with Kabul and the release of militants for the increase in terror attacks in Pakistan, The News reported Saturday. 

Calling for an in-camera briefing on the surge in terrorism and related history, Dar asked if anyone would tell the nation why the policy was reversed in Kabul and hundreds of hardened terrorists forcibly got freed.

The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader recalled that the nation came to know about that understanding only after watching images of Pakistan’s responsible people visiting Kabul and holding negotiations there. 

“The matter did not end there, as hundreds of hardened terrorists were forced to be released under an understanding. What was that understanding? Would anyone tell the nation? A policy U-turn was taken on terrorism after the installation of the Taliban government there,” he said. 

He regretted that they were engaged, and afterwards, terrorists were released from Pakistani jails, following which there had been a continuous increase in the acts of terrorism across the country and today no one was safe. 

Dar also referred to the recent Mianwali incident and called for a realistic approach, and that the nation should without wasting a minute deal with the extremely sensitive challenge, which, he claimed, the past PML-N government had effectively dealt with by starting Zarb-e-Azb and then Operation Raddul Fassad.

There was a time when the international community believed that Pakistan might not be able to take on the terrorists, especially in the northern areas, and it was also said that even the military regime of General Musharraf could not take action against terrorists, he said. 

But in September 2013, he noted, this decision was taken and the operation was launched against the menace of terrorism.

He explained the then PML-N government moved forward with a well-defined programme to fix the economy, and extremism and deal with the electricity crisis.

Senator Dar said that the caretaker government should give an in-camera briefing on terrorism without any further delay. He also sought data on how the acts of terror dramatically fell from 2013 onwards to 2014, 15, 16 17, and till 2018, and after that the policy was changed and they (terrorists) were engaged.

Earlier, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani spoke at length on the subject and pointed out that the increase in direct attacks on the personnel and installations of the armed forces followed the return of illegal Afghans from Pakistan.

Rabbani also wanted the then-political government of the PTI and the establishment to accept the responsibility of the deal on terrorists, the details of which are still unknown.