'The entire nation has stood up against these elements and we would defeat their evil designs to make this country secure and peaceful.'

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said the country is currently fighting against extremism and terrorism and 'this is not a fight based on religion, ethnicity, sub-nationalism, or provincialism'.

He said that a terrorist has no caste, creed or religion.

'He (Terrorist) respects no boundaries and has no nationality. Extremists are those who have blinded themselves in a self righteous mode and are not amenable to reason and logic,' Kayani said at the Independence Day parade at the Military Academy in Kakul, a hill town in North West Frontier Province.