Islamabad: Pakistan on Wednesday announced a “temporary pause” in the ongoing operation against the Afghan Taliban in view of Eid and at the request of several countries, a day after the Afghan government accused Islamabad of killing 400 people in an attack on a rehabilitation hospital in Kabul. Information Minister Ataullah Tarar made the announcement in a post on X, hours after Pakistan carried out fresh attacks on alleged Taliban positions in the border region.
“In view of the upcoming Islamic festival of Eid-ul-Fitr, upon its own initiative as well as on the request from the brotherly Islamic countries” of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye, Pakistan has decided to announce a temporary pause amidst ongoing Operation Ghazab-lil-Haq, he said.
Tarar said the pause would be applicable from “midnight March 18/19 to midnight March 23/24”. He, however, added that in case of any cross-border attack, drone attack or any terrorist incident inside Pakistan, the operation will immediately resume.
Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil Haq on February 26 in response to alleged attacks by the Afghan Taliban forces along the 2,600-km-long border. So far, at least 684 Afghan Taliban personnel have been killed, and more than 912 have been injured, according to the Pakistani govt.