Daesh has presence in Nangarhar, Senate panel told.

ISLAMABAD -- Inspector General Frontier Corps (North) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Major General Rahat Naseem Ahmed Khan Wednesday told a Senate panel that Arab-based militant organization Daesh or Islamic State (IS) had presence in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Interior, IG Frontier Corps (North) KP also ruled out possibility of any footprints of Daesh in Pakistan. 'Around 1200 to 1300 militants of Daesh are present in Nangarhar,' he said.

The IG further said that FC had completed fencing of 586 kilometers, out of 822 kilometers, of Afghan border alongside erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Some places are at an altitude of 8,280 feet and in 14-feet deep snow, he said. 'FC would complete work of fencing along Afghan border by the end of October 30,' he said. He also said that 752 FC personnel sacrificed their lives and 2,664 got injured in the war on terror and security-related duties.

Chairman Senate body takes exception to irregularities, death of animals, birds in Islamabad Zoo

He said that FC was proud to claim that FC KP took a tank to 12,000 feet height setting a world record, adding that tank was fully operational there. He added that they were combating firing incidents from Afghanistan side continuously.

Informing the committee on the organisational structure and working of the FC KP (North), IG FC Major General Rahat said the FC (North) had been tasked to serve borders of the country. 'FC was entrusted a special role during war on terror since 2001 due to its outstanding performance and commitment towards their job and understanding of the culture, norms and traditions of the people living in then FATA and across the border.' He said that keeping in view the social norms and values of the tribal areas, a number of female soldiers had also been recruited in FC KP for search operation against miscreants.

Chairman Committee Senator A. Rehman Malik highly appreciated recruitment of women and directed the Ministry of Interior that rules should be made for establishing proper cadre of female soldiers giving them full promotional opportunities to the level of officer ranks. He also said that the Afghan government could be behind the cross border firing on Pakistani forces directing the government to take up the matter with Afghan government to stop abetting terrorists on Pak-Afghan border.

The chair directed the director general Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to open at least...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT