Civil, military top brass discuss national security at GHQ

• Top civil and military leaders discuss external, internal security situation and threats to CPEC
• ISPR says hostile intelligence agencies and their facilitators will not be allowed to foment trouble inside Pakistan
• Leaders satisfied with ‘phenomenal successes’ of Zarb-e-Azb, say achievements in bringing stability in the country will have to be sustained no matter what

The civilian and military leadership sat together on Tuesday to discuss several contentious issues related to the country’s internal and external security, vowing to devise a joint strategy to confront the challenges.

The meeting reaffirmed that hostile intelligence agencies and their facilitators will not be allowed to foment trouble inside Pakistan or to hinder the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The civil-military relations have witnessed a rocky path since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took over the reins following the 2013 general elections. This meeting looks like a bid by the civilian leadership to repair the relationship and carve out a better working paradigm before the prime minister returns home from London.

The high level meeting between the civil and military leadership discussed issues related to national security. Federal Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq Dar, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, National Security Advisor Lieutenant General (r) Nisar Janjua, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs (SAPM) Syed Tariq Fatemi and Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry attended the meeting. The meeting was also attended by Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, Inter-Services Intelligence Director-General General Rizwan Akhtar and other senior military officials.

“Reaffirming Pakistan’s commitment to enduring peace in the region, it was underlined that hostile intelligence agencies and their facilitators will not be allowed to foment trouble inside Pakistan,” a handout issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.

“It was noted with satisfaction that successes of operation Zarb-e-Azb had been phenomenal and it was agreed that our achievements in bringing stability in the country will have to be sustained whatever it takes. The meeting also took cognisance of ongoing regional developments and inimical designs against our stability and prosperity,” the statement said.

The meeting expressed its concern on the May 21 US drone strike saying it was a clear violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty affecting mutual trust and undermined the spirit of the Afghan peace process under mutually agreed quadrilateral framework. The leadership resolved to protect the core national interests and effectively counter any negative outside influence.

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A well placed source in the Defence Ministry told Pakistan Today that the military leadership has been upset with the civilian set up on several issues – from corruption to lack of commitment and will to take up security issues with the neighbouring countries and lack of financial support for rehabilitation of temporarily displaced persons and reconstruction in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) after the military operation.

The source said that there was also a tiff over the lukewarm response from the civilian leadership over the concerns shared by the army time and again about regional and international issues, especially over threats to CPEC.

“There are several issues which need immediate response from the civilians but they never respond. Though the civilian government keeps trumpeting the CPEC for political mileage, its leadership has never spoken about threats to the project. The mysterious silence of the civilian leadership over the events leading to the arrest of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) agent Kulbhushan Jadhav has been a major source of concern,” the source added.

The source said that the security forces have arrested another 125 spies working on the behest of Afghan or Indian intelligence agencies from Peshawar, Swat, Gilgit-Baltistan, South Waziristan, Attock, Turnol, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Chaman, Quetta and other areas near the Pak-Afghan border but the Foreign Ministry has failed to take up these matters on international forums which has irked the military establishment.

The source said that Jhadav’s arrest was a huge success of Pakistan’s security forces as there was no precedent of such a catch in the region’s history. However, the government had miserably failed to build its case against India and Afghanistan at the highest levels.

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Last week, Pakistan turned down India’s request seeking consular access to Jadhav. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that the spy would not receive consular access as he had entered the country as an enemy and not by mistake.

Both the Defence Ministry and Foreign Office had advised the prime minister to reject India’s request for access to Jadhav.

Jadhav, an Indian Navy commander and agent of RAW, was arrested in a raid near the Pak-Afghan border town of Chaman in March. He was earlier posted at Chabahar port in South-eastern Iran where he lived with his wife and two children.

Jadhav revealed that Baloch separatists were trained in Mumbai to carry out terrorist attacks in Pakistan’s coastal areas. He also confessed to training separatists in Balochistan. “My mission was to train Baloch separatists for attacks in the coastal areas of the province,” he told investigators at the time. “The targets included Gwadar deep sea port, Karachi’s coast, and ships and installations of the Pakistan Navy.”

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Jadhav also said that he had arranged modern speedboats for Baloch separatists from Chabahar port. Members of Baloch separatist groups were taken from Gwadar, Pasni, Ormara and Jiwani by boat to Mumbai where they were trained for three months in driving speedboats, Jadhav was reported to have said.

After the completion of their training, Baloch separatists were left in the coastal areas of Balochistan to carry out attacks, Jadhav said. “Baloch separatists were tasked with sabotaging the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Their targets included engineers, technical staff and security forces,” Jadhav said in March.

Pakistan has repeatedly claimed that India is stoking violence, especially in Balochistan to sabotage the CPEC, a gigantic project of road and railway networks linking China’s Xinjiang province with Gwadar port. Last year, Pakistan’s permanent representative at the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi had handed over dossiers containing evidence of India’s involvement in Balochistan and other parts of the country.