Zardari vows to fight militancy ‘till the end’

Karachi: Former Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday vowed to fight extremism and militancy in the country till the last and said he would frustrate extremists’ designs to impose their rule on the country.

In his brief address to police officials and the families of slain policemen, Zardari said that the ongoing campaign against terrorism was ideological.

“They say that they would impose their ideology on us but we will fight with them till the last,” the former president said.

“This is our pledge, this is your pledge and this pledge of whole Pakistan,” Zardari said.

Earlier, he distributed the cheques of two million rupees to relatives of policemen who died. Some 178 families were compensated with cumulative 356 million rupees.

The former president, whose party rules southern Sindh province, assured the police officials that the government was considering to raise the compensation for the families of the police to 10 million rupees from existing two million rupees so that the families could get a decent financial support.

Besides, he said, the government was planning to provide insurance cover to the government employees including the police. With the insurance policy the families of the deceased officials could get immediate financial compensation instead of waiting for existing long cumbersome procedure.

Over 180 police officials were gunned down in 2014 in targeted killings in this mega city. The police killings have risen sharply in the recent days as the law enforcement agencies were speedily raiding and busting the terrorists’ dens.

In January alone about a dozen law enforcement personnel were killed in the targeted killings or during the encounters.