ISLAMABAD - The military top brass on Friday reiterated Pakistan’s desire for maintaining peace with its neighbours, yet it warned effective and befitting response to any hostile action anywhere along the frontiers.
“Despite our desire for maintaining peace with our neighbours, any hostile action anywhere along our frontiers shall be effectively and befittingly responded,” Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa said while chairing the annual Formation Commanders’ conference at GHQ in Rawalpindi.
The Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement that participants of the conference were briefed on evolving geo-strategic environment, threats to national security and the challenges as well as a response in place and progress of ongoing operations. It further said that progress of operation Radd-ul-Fasaad including the gradual transition of control of cleared areas from military to civil administration was also deliberated.
The army chief attributed successes achieved so far to great sacrifices by the people of Pakistan, security forces, intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
While appreciating the high state of operational readiness and troops’ morale, Gen Bajwa warned of effective and befitting response to any hostile action anywhere along Pakistan’s frontiers.
The statement said that the commanders pledged that as a state institution, the Pakistan Army shall continue to serve the nation in support of and in coordination with other state institutions.
The restatement of military top brass for Pakistan’s desire for peace with neighbours comes a few days after a UK-based think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in its report published on May 3 saying that Gen Bajwa believes that peace and prosperity in Pakistan were linked to better military cooperation with arch-rival India.
The report claimed that bilateral ties between the two arch-rivals were warming with Gen Bajwa saying that the “Pakistan military wanted peace and dialogue with India”.
The COAS had invited Indian military attaché Sanjay Vishwasrao and his team to the Pakistan Day parade held in Islamabad on March 23.
The RUSI report further said with growing security and stability on the western border following back-to-back successful operations Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fassad, the army understands that talking to India will help the country’s upward economic trajectory and allow regional trade flourish.
Despite the cold response from India on transit trade dialogue on Afghan-India commerce, Pakistan’s military leadership’s sustained efforts are highly likely to exact the desired response sooner rather than later. “It could only be a matter of time before Delhi agrees to at least talk to Islamabad,” the report suggested.
“There is some rapprochement, but it is stuttering and there’s a long way to go yet.”
In a related development, Pakistan and India would be taking part in joint military exercises with India and other regional countries including China under the banner of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
The joint military drills are scheduled to be held in Russia in September.
The series of events are a sign of rapprochement against the background of regular exchanges of fire along the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary.
“There is some rapprochement, but it is stuttering and there’s a long way to go yet,” the report said.
Lt-Gen Aamir Riaz headed the first high-level contact group with India as the Director-General Military Operations (DGMO), the report said.
Another top officer, Maj-Gen Ahmed Hayat, the Director General of the analysis wing of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), authored the ‘India Plan’ in 2013, which tried to ascertain how and when Pakistan should approach India, it added.
According to Gen Hayat, the Pakistani military would approach India after Islamabad strengthened its defence diplomacy without pressure or threats from Washington.
“It is a no-brainer that one cannot live in an environment of perpetual enmity with a neighbour six times your size, but the indicators have to be right,” he was quoted as saying.
“History teaches us to be cautious when approaching India – history paints India as an anti-status quo entity.”
According to the report, Pakistan now feels more politically stable and Gen Hayat’s plan could come to fruition this year.
Speaking at RUSI last year, Gen Bajwa had announced that “the Pakistan Army is now no more insecure and feels confident of its future and that he welcomes Indian participation in Pakistan’s flagship infrastructure project, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).”
This is not the first time a Pakistani military leader had approached his Indian counterparts to thaw frosty relations.
Hostile action to get befitting response: COAS