Corps Commanders concerned over NSC meeting leak as they assemble at GHQ
Pakistan’s top military commanders on Friday expressed serious concern over what they called the “feeding of a false and fabricated story of an important security meeting” held at the Prime Minister’s House last week, and viewed the same as a “breach of national security”.
The ‘fabricated story’ was an apparent reference to a news report published by Dawn regarding the recent National Security Committee meeting which alleged a rift between the government and military on the issue of tackling jihadi outfits.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif presided over the meeting which was attended by all corps commanders and principal staff officers at the General Headquarters (GHQ).
The participants of the meeting held a comprehensive review of the internal and external security situation with a particular focus on prevailing environment at the Line of Control (LoC) and the operational preparedness of the army.
HOAX SURGICAL STRIKE:
Rejecting the absurd Indian claims of hoax surgical strikes as an attempt to divert world’s attention away from brutalities being committed by Indian army against innocent Kashmiris, the majestic forum resolved that any misadventurism and irresponsible act would be met with the most befitting response.
Expressing complete satisfaction over the operational preparedness of the troops, army chief General Raheel Sharif reiterated the army’s resolve to defend the motherland at any cost against full spectrum of threat, said a statement released by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
Recounting the successes achieved during the Operation Zarb-e-Azb so far and resultant stability brought to propel Pakistan into a new phase of development and prosperity, the army chief re-emphasised the “need for sustained efforts on internal security to defeat all hostile attempts to reverse our gains”.
The participants resolved to continue sustained and focused combing and intelligence-based operations across the length and breadth of the country to uproot terrorism harmonising it with implementation of the National Action Plan to address extremism and other causes of terrorism, added the ISPR statement.
FALSE AND FABRICATED STORY:
The meeting of the army commanders comes in a week after Cyril Almeida affiliated with Dawn published a news report on rift between the government and army.
The Prime Minister’s Office has thrice denied any rift between the two establishments since the story came out on October 6.
Following the report, journalist Cyril Almeida was put on the Exit Control List (ECL).
Some defence and security experts have decried the incident by taking issue with the timing of the news story as India-Pakistan terms have worsened in the last month over a terror attack and then cancellation of the 19th summit of SAARC.
