 Pakistan launches nationwide anti-militant offensive Islamabad (AFP) Feb 22, 2017 - Pakistan's military announced the launch of a nationwide anti-terrorist operation on Wednesday, days after a series of bloody extremist assaults killed dozens of people across the country. "Pakistan army launches 'Operation Radd-ul-Fassad' (elimination of violence) across the country," a military statement said. The announcement came after army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa chaired a high-level security meeting in the eastern city of Lahore. Troops and police have been on high alert in Pakistan after last week's wave of attacks, including one in Lahore and another on a Sufi shrine in Sindh province, killed more than 100 people. After the attacks, Islamabad launched a violent crackdown, with Pakistani forces saying they had killed dozens of "terrorists" and carried out strikes on militant hideouts along the border with Afghanistan. "Pakistan air force, navy, civil armed forces and other security/law enforcing agencies... will continue to actively partipate/intimately support efforts to eliminate the menace of terrorism from the country," the statement said. Thursday's devastating assault on the Sufi shrine was claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group and came after a series of violent attacks, including a Taliban suicide bomb in Lahore on February 13 which killed 13 people and wounded dozens. The emergence of IS and a Taliban resurgence would be a major blow to Pakistan, and the attacks have dented growing optimism over security after a decade-long war on militancy. Analysts said the military was seeking to limit militants' movements from one place to another by carrying out a nationwide operation. "This operation will basically target sanctuaries... of militants in Punjab province and restrict their movements," defence analyst and retired general Talat Masood told AFP. Prior to last week's attacks, Pakistani forces have been engaged in a series of offensives, mainly in the country's troubled northwestern tribal region, in pursuit of Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants.
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China has created a 100 million yuan ($14.5 million) fund for "anti-terrorism" awards in a violence-wracked part of the country, state media reported, as the government steps up a campaign targeting unrest.
The government of Hotan in the far western region of Xinjiang will give prizes of up to 5 million yuan ($730,000) to those who expose terrorist plots or "struggle, kill, wound, or subdue rioters", the Hotan Daily newspaper reported Tuesday.
Those who share information will receive "absolute confidentiality" and will be rewarded according to their role in wounding rioters or "killing (them) in battle".
Inside information on plots to attack crowded places, party buildings, government officers can lead to rewards of three to five million yuan, while information on people sharing firearm technology or other weapons can receive two and a half to four million.
"Reporting clues on religious extremists falsely taking the guise of religion to interfere in the legal, administrative, education and other systems, or harm national laws," can receive up to one million, the newspaper said.
Those who report on women wearing burqas or young men with beards can receive 2,000 yuan.
The far-western region of Xinjiang is the homeland of the Uighurs -- a traditionally Muslim group, many of whom complain of cultural and religious repression and discrimination.
The area has been hit by a wave of deadly unrest, with a knife attack last week in nearby Pishan county killing eight, including three attackers.
On Tuesday officials in Pishan doled out awards of 1.76 million yuan to police officers and rescue workers who took part in the operation.
Beijing regularly accuses what it calls exiled Uighur separatist groups such as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement of orchestrating attacks in the vast, resource-rich region.
But overseas experts have expressed doubts about the strength of the groups and their links to global terrorism, with some saying China exaggerates the threat to justify tough security measures.
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