DHAKA: Pakistan on Wednesday unveiled its first ever counter-terrorism policy after battling a homegrown Islamist insurgency for more than a decade, announcing that every act of militant violence would be met with retaliation on their bases.

Interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan announced the ‘national security policy’ before parliament a day after it was formally approved by the cabinet, ending years of waiting for a set of unified rules of engagement for terrorism.

The move comes as talks between the government and the Taliban that began earlier this month have stalled following the killing of 23 soldiers being held by the militants.

Pakistan has responded by carrying out a series of deadly air strikes in the northwest that have left over 100 militants dead, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1811 HRS, FEB 26, 2014