President General Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday that the government would tackle militancy with force, but would also pursue peace through political means. “We will never close the option of dialogue and political settlement and it will continue despite these actions (against militants). We will undertake action wherever we find such militant activity,” the president said while chairing the day-long 99th Corps Commanders’ Conference here at General Headquarters (GHQ). Gen Musharraf briefed the conference about the Bajaur madrassa strike and said that it was based on intelligence reports that the seminary was training militants and actively involved in terrorist activities. “Terrorism is a threat to our national security and it will be combated and crushed at all cost,” Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) quoted the president as saying.
However, he said extreme care was being exercised to ensure that there was no loss of innocent lives or collateral damage while combating terrorists. “This was also ensured in the case of the recent Bajaur incident where we had evidence that militants were being trained,” he said. “We must control extremism, sustain economic and democratic reforms and address all issues that are critical to the country’s growth and security in the long term,” he added. The conference was given a detailed presentation on the security situation in FATA and Balochistan. The president explained his strategies to deal with the situation in FATA and Balochistan, and to sustain economic growth and bring the benefits of the growing economy to the poor.