Summary Habib Akram says General Raheel Sharif extended operation to corruption as well, causing trouble
LAHORE: (Dunya News) – Senior analyst Habib Akram has on Saturday said that the Karachi operation must be limited to terrorism only in order to maintain consensus on this operation. He said that former chief of army staff General Raheel Sharif expanded it too far, extending it to terrorism also due to which disagreement arose, reported Dunya News.
Talking on Khabar Yeh Hai program on Dunya News, Habib Akram said that General Raheel Sharif believed that terrorism and corruption were two sides of the same coin. He said that this expansion led to conflict on the issue. “Asif Zardari is already on record on the subject, Bilawal says it almost every day, it will eventually lead to the breaking of the consensus”, he said.
Habib Akram said that the operation was started in 2013 and all the political parties believed that it was necessary. “It was initiated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Sindh governor Dr Ishrat ul-Ibad was present there. Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Dr Farooq Sattar was in the meeting. Jamaat Islami’s (JI) Hafiz Naeem ur-Rehman was present. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was leading the provincial government and was completely onboard. It was this political consensus that helped this operation achieve the success it eventually did”, he said.
Disagreeing with Habib Akram, Haroon Rasheed said that it was impossible for the operation to be limited only to terrorism. He said that all these things were interrelated and thus the operation couldn’t be successful without going after the real patrons of these terrorists. He said that the operation could have been led by police force as well ‘like it was done in 1995. It was a successful operation then. It certainly can be led now by the police. If the provincial government thinks police can lead it, it may hand it over to police. But Rangers can’t let their achievements be lost like this’.
Habib Akram said that the consensus would fail to continue with corruption also being made the part of the agenda. “They caught Dr Asim Hussain, and that too on charges that he had provided medical treatment to the terrorists in his hospital. Moreover, the terrorists who were allegedly given medical treatment at his office were also not proven terrorists. This gives rise to the conflict and under such situation the consensus might break”, he said.
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