KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday stressed the importance of national cohesion and an integrated policy to confront Pakistan’s security challenges, the military’s media wing said as Islamabad struggles to contain surging militancy in the country.
Pakistan has struggled to forge unity within its ranks when it comes to battling militancy, particularly regarding the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. The ruling party’s rival and former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party is in power in the province and has criticized the government’s approach to battling militants there.
KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has blamed the center for the resurgence of “terrorism” in the province, accusing Islamabad of not providing the provincial government adequate resources to battle militancy and of not taking it into confidence regarding military operations. The federal government denies this and accuses the provincial government of being negligent toward rising miltiancy in KP.
“He [Zardari] underscored the importance of informed leadership, national cohesion and integrated policy formulation in confronting Pakistan’s contemporary security challenges,” the Inter-Services Public Relations, (ISPR) the military’s media wing, said in a statement.
