KARACHI: The operation Zarb-i-Azb has eradicated the menace of terrorism to a large extent. However, keeping in mind the porous border with Afghanistan, the border control mechanism needs to be improved.
This was stated by the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman, at a seminar organised by the Royal Aeronautical Society, Pakistan Division, on Tuesday.
Speaking as the chief guest at the event held at the Air War College at the PAF Base, Faisal, to discuss the historical and future perspective of aeronautics, the chief of air staff said that forces had been praised for their role in keeping the menace of terrorism under check.
However, he said that besides the show of strength on ground their perspective was to see Pakistan strengthened as a whole. Explaining the point later, he said that in comparison, terror attacks had lessened over the years.
“The continuity of attacks has lessened, if we compare it with the situation during the earlier years where every few days a terror attack was taking place in the country,” he said.
Incidents such as the one in Charsadda University were unfortunate, he said, but looked at in the prism of the past few years, such incidents had been controlled.
He said that it was his desire to see the porous border with Afghanistan undergoing a proper border control mechanism to further contain the menace.
Speaking before him, director of avionics at the design management office at the PAC Kamra, Gp. Captain Dr Aamir Hussain spoke about the need to form linkages between the government, academia and the manufacturing industry. He said that lack of linkages and involvement of the academia, which provides the knowledge and vision for the future, will keep the aeronautics industry of Pakistan behind in the current environment.
He suggested that global collaboration was the current need as it would provide relief in economic constraints, strengthen the industrial base and bolster it technologically.
He gave examples of earlier collaborations with other countries in the past which helped in the evolution of the aircraft manufacturing in the country, which he said should be the focus at the present as well.
Earlier in the morning, executive director of the management association of Pakistan, and former general manager of international affairs at the Pakistan International Airlines, M. Salahuddin, said Pakistan had gone far too liberal without considering adequate safeguards for its own airlines.
He said that re-regulation of the airlines had changed the definition of fair and equal flying space.
There was an ongoing debate, he added, in which the airlines in the US and Europe suffered at the hands of Gulf airlines which were following a marketing model connecting their hubs with major countries situated at an eight-hour distance.
