RAWALPINDI - Pakistan Army has taken serious note of Indian military’s irresponsible statements and aggression along the Line of Control (LoC).
The concern was expressed during a special conference of Principal Staff Officers chaired by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa in Rawalpindi on Friday. Sharing details of the meeting at a news briefing in Rawalpindi, Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar said the Indian side recently intensified ceasefire violations.
“India carried out around 850 border violations since the beginning of this year, deliberately targeting the civilian population along the LoC. Indian military leadership has also used the media to promote failed propaganda against Pakistan. India has violated the ceasefire agreements in which a child was martyred and 31 people had been injured. It shows demoralisation among Indian military.”
He added India has been in the habit of blaming Pakistan for every domestic problem it faced. “Whenever India has faced internal problems, it has blamed Pakistan. The current allegations are also based on the same [strategy], to divert internal and international attention from situation arising out if its own policy blunders.”
DG ISPR said at the time when the world is uniting amid a global pandemic, RSS-inspired extremist Modi government is violating international laws. He said Indian forces were using heavy artillery against the civilian population across the LoC and using people of occupied Kashmir as a human shield. He said India always blamed Pakistan for its failures, to divert world attention from its atrocities being committed on Kashmiris when the world is fighting against a pandemic.
COVID-19 situation
Talking about COVID-19 situation, Major General Babar Iftikhar said that the civil and political leadership are united in the fight against this pandemic. He said all resources of Pakistan Army are being utilised at every level to support government’s efforts against the virus. He further said that a smart lockdown and the policy of ‘testing, tracing and quarantining’ will drive Army’s efforts against COVID-19.
He said that reserve personnel of the Army Medical Corps have also been asked to report for active duty. “We will have a targeted lockdown only for virus hotspots and clusters,” he said and assured that the army will extend help to the civil administration in this regard.
He said COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa had instructed Pakistan Army to help the civilian administration during the month of Ramadan. “COAS held a special conference at General Headquarters today where the overview of the coronavirus deployment and situation was taken into account. COAS instructed all commanders to ensure border security and carry out routine activities as per schedule,” he said and added “COAS instructed the Army to work with civil authorities to ease the difficulties being faced by the people during Ramadan.”
The conference also took notice of statements issued by Indian leadership with regards to Pakistan,” the military spokesperson said further. He also announced that Pakistan Army will not take internal security allowance during coronavirus duty. The amount will be spent on the patients affected by the virus, he added.
Director General ISPR said that India’s attempt to connect Muslims and Pakistan to the spread of the coronavirus has failed. He said at a time when the entire world is fighting coronavirus, extremists in India are promoting Hindutva and saffron terrorism.
“Coronavirus is a global pandemic and Indian attempts to associate it with Muslims have failed. The fire of hatred which was first ignited in Indian-Occupied Kashmir has now spread across India, he said. He was of the view that the Indian army and its leadership unsuccessfully tried to push the false narrative. He said the whole world is facing a crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic and the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres had also called for a global ceasefire. However, despite the crisis, India is adamant on promoting their RSS agenda in the region.
Recently, Indian army chief MM Naravane had alleged that Pakistan was “exporting terror” during the coronavirus crisis while India was helping others and its own people.
Replying to questions about the pandemic, DG ISPR said that it is clear that the confirmed virus cases are less than initial projections. “We fear that this number may increase in two weeks. Through the NCOC platform, the national effort against the virus is being reviewed,” he said. “All resources of Pakistan Army are being used on the order of the government to tackle the pandemic. Resource allocation is being revised due to a changing situation. Under new strategy, we are taking resources to provincial, district, and union council levels,” he said.
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