Dubai: Pakistan has eliminated sanctuaries of all terrorists groups including the Haqqani Network from its soil through a well-thought-out military campaign, said a top military official. “But all this has come with a huge price. Besides cost in blood of over 75,000 Pakistanis, there has been loss of more than $123 billion [Dh451.6 billion] to the national exchequer,” said Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in an interview. On the possibility of peace between India and Pakistan, Major General Ghafoor said he believed that all issues between the two nuclear-armed countries, including the core issue of Kashmir, need to be resolved to normalise the bilateral relationship. During an exclusive interview with Gulf News, Major General Ghafoor talked about Pakistan’s success in the war against terrorism, Pakistan-India relations and the possibility of peace between the two countries. He also discussed Pakistan’s relations with the UAE and the much publicised $54-billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, which will link Pakistan’s Gwadar Port with China. Following are excerpts from the interview: To a question, he said Pakistan has fought a successful war against terrorism — a war which entered Pakistan through the 2,611-km scantily manned Pak-Afghan border when US-led coalition forces started military operations in Afghanistan against Al-Qaida. Whereas there are no more organised sanctuaries, for elimination of remaining disorganised scanty residual presence of militants, Operation Raddul Fasaad, a largely intelligence-based operation is in progress. Effects of operation have visibly reduced the level of violence throughout Pakistan. This residual presence also takes advantage of 2.7 millions Afghan refugees inside Pakistan by morphing into peaceful refugees, he added. Presently there are over 200,000 Pakistani troops deployed in FATA along Pak-Afghan border. This deployment is to continue despite successes inside Pakistan as threat continues to reside inside Afghanistan not due to lack of will but lack of capacity of the Afghan forces. To safeguard own success, Pakistan has started to fence entire 2,611-km length of Pak-Afghan border and construction of new forts/posts along the border to deny free cross-border movement of terrorists. Besides kinetic operations, Pakistan has undertaken major socio-economic development projects in cleared areas. This is aimed at carrying forward relative stability to enduring peace. To another question, he said Pakistan’s contingent is part of the ongoing Pak-Saudi bilateral security cooperation since 1982. It is neither part of Islamic Force nor it shall be deployed outside KSA borders. The role of Pakistani troops is training and advice. He said Pakistan has repeatedly conveyed the above stance to US authorities. Present violence inside Afghanistan should not be linked to Pakistan. Pakistan shall do anything to support achievement of peace in Afghanistan but can neither fight inside Afghanistan nor will do it again inside Pakistan. To ensure achieving peace in Afghanistan, ungoverned spaces inside Afghanistan would have to be cleared by Afghan and RSM [Resolute Support Mission] Forces. A better Pak-Afghan border security arrangement is quintessential towards this end. Pakistan has long been pursuing this with Afghanistan. About the UAE-Pakistan relations, the ISPR DG said, Pakistan maintains excellent brotherly relationship with UAE. UAE has assisted Pakistan phenomenally for socio-economic development projects during our counter-terrorism effort in FATA. “We don’t foresee any deterioration in our relationship and look forward to continued strong relationship. UAE Army contingent is participating in a Pakistan National Day Parade this month,” he added. He said various independent international surveys report that more than 50 per cent of Afghan areas are not under effective control of Afghan forces. There is scanty presence of Afghan forces along Pak-Afghan border. He said no country other than a Pakistan is keener to see a peaceful Afghanistan as we are the immediate neighbours. Peace in Afghanistan is important for peace in Pakistan. He said threat from India is perpetual. India is not only challenging Pakistan conventionally along our eastern borders, but is busy in fomenting unrest through terrorism using Afghan soil. “And this is not mere rhetoric. Pakistan has arrested a serving Indian naval officer, Kulbhushan Jadhav working as RAW [Research and Analysis Wing, India’s primary foreign intelligence agency] agent in Pakistan. So we are not having any let-up in safeguarding against Indian threat,” he added. He said Pakistan is a peaceful country and doesn’t want conflict with anyone. However, our desire for peace should never be mistaken as our weakness. For normalised Indo-Pak relationship, all issues including the core issue of Kashmir between the two nuclear countries need to be resolved. India needs to behave like a responsible country, stop atrocities on both sides of the Line of Control and also discontinue interference inside Pakistan through state-sponsored terrorism. He said continuity of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is not linked to elections or any other event. China is our time-tested friend and CPEC is a nation-to-nation project. He said Pakistan has been successful in war against terrorism. Peace has gradually returned to Pakistan. We are moving towards enduring stability. CPEC is progressing well. All this is affording economic investment opportunities in Pakistan. There are no threats anymore and environment is conducive for investment. Peace and prosperity is our destination and we expect the world to contribute in promoting peace and economy not only in Pakistan but in the region as well, the ISPR DG maintained.