Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa has said that defending the motherland is ‘the most sacred act’ and the Pakistan Army is ‘ready to perform its duty’ to safeguard the country’s boundaries, Dawn online reported.
While talking to soldiers during his visit to Sialkot Working Boundary on Sunday, he said Pakistan ‘would pay the enemy back in the same coin against any Indian war aggression’, as per the report.
Bajwa was quoted as having said the Pakistan Army had the full capability to defend every inch of the motherland.
“There is not anything more sacred than defending the motherland. I take pride in leading an army which is ever ready to perform this duty,” he said, according to the report.
In the report, he said: “Pakistan is a peace-loving country but we cannot be intimidated or coerced. Any aggression or misadventure shall be paid back in the same coin.”
Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan, who visited forward operating air bases of the Pakistan Air Force on Sunday, in an interaction with the combat crew, said: “We are a peace-loving nation, but if war is imposed on us, we will defend the aerial frontiers of our motherland at any cost. The PAF, alongside other defence forces, is ever ready to take on all kinds of challenges with operational preparedness and immaculate synergy,” the report stated.
“The Pakistan Air Force will thwart any misadventure by the enemy and is ready to respond with full force as per aspirations of the nation,” he said, as per the report.
This development occurs after fresh escalations of tensions occurred between India and Pakistan following the February 14 attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir which killed 49 CRPF personnel was claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammad militant outfit.
Modi blamed Pakistan for the Pulwama attack and said that the country has become ‘‘synonym for terrorism’.
Following the attack, Pakistan called back their High Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood for ‘consultations’. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said he had written a letter to the United Nations secretary general, asking him to play his role for the “de-escalation” of current tensions.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, in response to Modi’s comments, said that they would retaliate if India would start a war.
The attack led to Kashmiris being harassed and abused across the country, prompting Modi to say that ‘our fight is for Kashmir, not against Kashmiris’.
National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah in a series of tweets, while thanking Modi, said that the forces who are harassing Kashmiris would stop now.
