PAKISTAN: Prime Minister holds security meeting following attacks

Record ID: 354979

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Prime Minister holds security meeting following attacks
  • Date: 10th June 2014
  • Summary: MULTAN, PAKISTAN (JUNE 9, 2014) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNER READING (Urdu): "WE CONDEMN THE TERRORIST ATTACK ON KARACHI AIRPORT. AMERICA, INDIA AND TALIBAN ARE INVOLVED IN THE ATTACK" PROTESTERS CHANTING (Urdu): "STOP THE GENOCIDE OF MUSLIMS!" PROTESTER HOLDING UP PLACARD READING (Urdu): "WE SALUTE THE SOLDIERS, RANGERS, ASF (AIRPORT SECURITY FORC
  • Embargoed: 25th June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABP7G50ARNVPHLMZXWMB0EMVKR
  • Story Text: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a high level meeting in Islamabad on Tuesday (June 10) to review the security situation in the country after two attacks in Karachi.
    Pakistan's Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for an attack on a security academy at Karachi's airport on Tuesday, less than 48 hours after an all-night siege by Taliban gunmen at Pakistan's busiest airport that killed more than 30 people.
    The late Sunday assault destroyed prospects for peace talks between the Taliban and Sharif's government and triggered speculation that the army might opt for an all-out offensive against militant strongholds.
    Peace talks between the two sides had failed in recent months, already dampening hopes of reaching a negotiated settlement with the insurgents, whose continued attacks against government and security targets have infuriated ordinary Pakistanis.
    In Multan in central Pakistan on Monday (June 9), dozens of protesters, angered by the airport attack, took to the streets, carrying banners condemning the United States and arch-rival India.
    "We condemn the terrorist attack on Karachi airport. America, India and Taliban are involved in the attack," read one banner.
    The protesters set fire to flags of the United States and India.
    Meanwhile, the National Assembly (lower house of parliament) unanimously passed a resolution strongly condemning the attack on Karachi airport.
    The resolution expressed sympathy with the bereaved families of those killed, and paid tribute to the Pakistani army, police, and Airport Security Force (ASF).
    "Those who have carried out this attack - and they have claimed responsibility for it - they have destroyed our peace. And those who destroy our peace, those who play with the lives of innocent citizens, we did not have any sympathy with them in the past, nor do we have any sympathy in the present, or in the future," former foreign minister and current parliamentarian, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, told reporters after the session.
    Pakistan's former interior minister, Rehman Malik, said the army needed to take firm action.
    "I call upon the government and the armed forces to take immediate action against the terrorists wherever they find their hideouts, whether they are in Punjab, or KPK, Baluchistan, Islamabad or anywhere in the country," he said.
    Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistani fighter jets bombed Taliban positions on the Afghan border.
    It was unclear if the latest air strikes signalled the start of a broader offensive in the North Waziristan region where the al Qaeda-linked Taliban are based, or indeed if they had been carried out in retaliation for the airport attack.
    The air force has periodically conducted raids to bomb Pakistani Taliban positions in the lawless, ethnic Pashtun region but has yet to launch a major offensive.
    The semi-autonomous Pashtun lands along the border, known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, have never been brought under the full control of any government.
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