Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani spent some time with 11-corps commander on Sunday after attending the funeral of soldiers killed in the NATO attack and visiting the injured at Combined Military Hospital (CMH), as the Pakistani military and political leadership reportedly considered a shift from US-led coalition to independent defence.
While receiving updates and ground details from the operational command here, the army chief underlined options and limitations after the “intentional” attack by the NATO forces that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. “The chief’s participation in the funeral was to value the blood of martyred soldiers,” an official said. The official told Online on condition of anonymity that the 11-corps commander and other relevant high officials that attended the funeral of the soldiers along with the army chief afterward had an informal session to review the critical situation that has emerged after the attack. “They unanimously described it as an intentional attack,” the official said. According to the official, the army chief took the operational command on board regarding the decisions of the Defense Committee of the Cabinet. The 11-corps commander also briefed the informal meeting about the situation on the ground in Mohmand Agency, where the posts were attacked.
INDEPENDENT DEFENCE: The Pakistani military and political leadership is reportedly considering a shift from US-led coalition to independent defence. A well-placed military official told Online on Sunday that one way of revisiting the policies of cooperation with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) could be to switch from coalition to independent defence.
“In the option of independent defence, we would make it clear to them (ISAF) that if they enter [Pakistani territory] in future they’ll be shot on sight as an enemy,” the official explained. According to the official, the military leadership has advised the government to quit the coalition if it fails to investigate and punish those responsible for the attack. To a question, the official said the exercise to revisit and review the policies of cooperation with the international coalition would be carried out at the level of the DCC. “Obviously, the military and political leadership would have to move in an exemplary unison to deal with the most critical situation of the entire era of Pakistan’s cooperation in the war against terrorism as a frontline state,” he said. “There is no room for ambiguity this time.”
We can’t go to war with NATO but we can stand up and tell them clearly and firmly to back off. They want out of Afghanistan and they know we can allow them to leave with some degree of honour or bleed them as they attempt to bleed us. This is a rare moment when the People and Armed forces of Pakistan can force the government to stand tall and look a bully square in the face and tell them enough is enough.
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