Army rejects conditional talks with militants

[UmarJustice]

ISLAMABAD - Rejecting conditional talks with the militants, the military command on Friday linked the possibility of negotiations with them to surrendering and their unconditional loyalty to the state.The commanders at a meeting here on Friday also mapped out the security plan for engaging troops for general elections and voters' verification in Karachi.Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani chaired the 156th Corps Commanders Conference held at the General Headquarters. “The meeting undertook a comprehensive review of the routine professional matters and security environment in the country,” a brief ISPR statement said.The scheduled meeting was held a day after the pro-government militant commander Maulvi Nazir was killed in a drone strike. This issue was purportedly also discussed in the meeting but its details were not immediately available.Apart from having arrived at major decisions on security arrangements in polls and voters' verification, the key developments at the defence and strategic fronts that were reported to have been brought under review in the meeting concerned Pak-US renewed strategic cooperation, Indo-Pak deliberations on nuclear safety and cooperation, efforts of negotiated peace with some militant factions as well as the continuous spate of terrorist attacks across the country.A senior army officer mentioned the commanders as being 'upbeat' on reconciliation measures with Taliban “provided they lay down arms and surrender unconditional allegiance to state”. "There's no question of conditional talks," he said. "Those challenging the writ of government cannot be negotiated with," the officer added.Furthermore, regarding security plan for polls and voters' verification in Karachi, the commanders purportedly agreed that the regular troops at the Pak-Afghan border areas would provide secondary support to the paramilitary forces as earlier decided in a high-level meeting at the election commission on Wednesday."The paramilitary troops have maximum concentration in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Fata (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) and Balochistan. Our role in these areas would be to extend secondary support to augment operational strength of the security forces operating there," officials said.Available with The Nation, detailed statistical break-up of the military and paramilitary troops deployment in KPK, Fata and Balochistan shows that the Frontier Corps has 708 platoons with 59 operational wings in Fata while it has 694 wings in Balochistan. In addition, Frontier Constabulary, a reserve police force in KPK, has 495 operational platoons of the total 547, all deployed in KPK. Both the Frontiers Corps (FC) and Frontier Constabulary are under the administrative control of the Ministry of Interior. The 97 platoons of the Frontier Constabulary are with Army.During the commanders meeting, the military is reported to have decided on getting these platoons engaged for security provision during the general polls. The Frontier Constabulary has 81 platoons with the KPK police that would also be deployed for the maintenance of law and order during elections. Although, the parliamentary polls would not be held in the North Waziristan but strict security measures would be followed there to prevent any untoward incident, the officials said.The FC's Tochi Scouts, Shawal Scouts and Orakzai Scouts are deployed in the NWA while South Waziristan Scouts is performing duties in the SWA. Both, the NWA and SWA, have an operational division each, nine brigades, 26 infantry battalions and 18 wings of Pakistan Army while military's' two corps, five divisions, 23 infantry brigades and 83 infantry battalions are deployed across Fata. The Levies Force would also be assigned poll duties, it is learnt.The officials said the additional troops would not be sent to the KPK or Fata while the FC platoons would be sent to Karachi from Balochistan during the voters' verification drive as well as the polls. "The FC is not based in Sindh, troops have to be deployed from elsewhere, mostly from Balochistan," a brigadier said, adding that Rangers, FC and Army would be assigned duties in Sindh.

Army rejects conditional talks with militants | The Nation

 

[somebozo]

a state millitary needs to negotiate with a few rag tag terrorist..height of incompetency by state institutions!