I was surprised to note the calmness with which Sartaj Aziz, adviser to Pakistan’s premier on national security and foreign affairs, said in a televised interview on Nov. 17 said, “Why should we target those who are not against us — an enemy of America is not necessarily our enemy as well.”

It seems that our politicians are still in a state of denial. They appear to remain oblivious to the fact that the Taleban and their likes are threatening the integrity of our country. It is heartening to note that Pakistan and Afghanistan are moving closer to jointly fight the menace of terrorism plaguing both the nations. But our politicians should realize that by issuing such statements, they would only harm the efforts against terrorism.

Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan may have rendered the terrorist networks weak and dislodged many militants from their hide-outs. We should not forget that due to the unnecessary peace talks, many of them got the chance to sneak out of the tribal areas. Reportedly, many militants have spread all across the country mainly in the urban areas. We should keep our eyes open and instead of issuing such statements, we should focus on eliminating these anti-Pakistan and anti-Islam elements.