ISLAMABAD: Secretary Defence Zamirul Hassan Shah told the Senate Standing Committee on Defence Thursday that India had committed around 1,299 ceasefire violations at the Line of Control (LoC) and Working Boundary during 2017, stating that these violations were “the highest ever”.
A meeting of the committee was held here at Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS) with Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed in the chair.
Besides others, the meeting was attended by Senators Hidayat Ullah, Atta-ur-Rehman, Muhammad Javed Abbasi, Lt Gen (retd) Abdul Qayyum, Sehar Kamran, and Brig (retd) John Kenneth Williams.
Defence secretary told the meeting that Indian forces were deliberately targeting the civilian population. He said the UN observers could only access LoC from the Pakistani side, whereas India was not allowing them from its side.
Zamirul Hassan said that killing of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) chief Umar Khalid Khorasani had not been confirmed yet. According to reports, Khorasani was killed in a recent US drone strike but the defence secretary that the news of JuA leader had not been verified. He also denied any US drone strike in Pakistani territory in the recent past.
Briefing the committee members on security along the Pak-Afghan border, he said that during 2017, around 307 terrorist acts were carried out in Pakistan from across the border; as result, 27 causalities occurred.
He said Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Jawed Bajwa’s recent visit to Kabul had been successful as he held important talks with the Afghan leadership.
Earlier, the committee was briefed on shifting of General Headquarters (GHQ) from Rawalpindi to Islamabad. It was told that the new GHQ facility would be established on 2,450 acres in sectors E-10 and D-11, adjacent to Naval and Air Headquarters in sectors E-8 and E-9.
The committee was informed that Rs100 billion would be spent on the new GHQ facility.
Moreover, the committee passed a resolution expressing solidarity with Kashmiri people, who are demanding their legitimate right of freedom from India.
