Lahore, Oct 27 (IANS) The Pakistani economy has suffered a loss of $40 billion due to the war on terrorism, a minister has said.
Tanvir Ashraf Kaira, provincial minister for finance and planning and development, said that terrorists are trying to destabilise the country’s economy, The News International reported Tuesday.

A statement quoted him as saying the terrorists wanted to weaken democratic process by using cowardly acts on security agencies.

The minister said “our economy has suffered a loss of $40 billion due to war on terrorism; therefore, Pakistan cannot afford defeat in this war and success was the only option which was imperative for the safe future of Pakistan”, the media report said.

Pakistan has witnessed a string of terror attacks as the army continued its assault against the Taliban fighters in South Waziristan.

The latest wave of militant violence started with a suicide bombing at the offices of the UN World Food Programme in Islamabad Oct 5. Five employees of the agency were killed.

The most audacious attack came on Oct 10 when 10 terrorists in military uniform laid siege to the Pakistan Army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. At least 19 people, including nine raiders, died in the 22-hour standoff. One militant was arrested.

On Oct 15, gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed two police academies and the offices of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency in Lahore. A car bomber struck at a police station in the northwestern town of Kohat. At least 38 people including 11 insurgents were killed in a single day.

A twin suicide bombing Oct 20 at the International Islamic University here killed seven people.

On Oct 22, Brigadier Moinuddin Ahmed, who was the head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan, was gunned down in Islamabad along with another soldier.

A day later, 25 people were killed and 27 injured in a series of blasts across Pakistan. Eighteen people died in a landmine explosion in Mohmand Agency while seven were killed when a suicide bomber struck at an air force base in Attock district. Eight people were injured in a bombing outside a restaurant in Peshawar.