Strike us once, we will strike twice, Pervaiz Rasheed to TTP

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Pervaiz Rasheed Thursday told the Pakistani Taliban in unequivocal terms that their one strike will be retaliated with two.

“If you talk with us, we will respond with greater enthusiasm. But, if you would strike once, we would strike twice,” Pervaiz Rasheed said in a statement, soon after the Interior Minister Ch Nisar announced that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in consultation with the military leadership has linked the peace talks to a halt to the bloodshed.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jets and AH-1 Cobra gunships of Army Aviation bombed militant hideouts in a northwestern tribal district late Wednesday night, killing at least 35 militants.

The mastermind behind the 13 February attack on a police bus in Karachi and foreign militant commanders were among those killed.

According to sources, Pakistani jets conducted six strikes on suspected militant hideouts in the tribal areas as part of surgical strikes which they said should not be taken as military operation.