ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Sunday said the Pakistan Army will continue to defend the motherland at all costs. “We have taken the oath to defend our motherland whatever [is the] cost or sacrifices,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) quoted the COAS as saying. “We have been, we are and we shall keep doing it,” Gen Bajwa said. “Salute to the martyrs of Pakistan.” “Hostile foreign to destabilise Pakistan have been exposed and continue to be defeated,” a tweet by DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor read. The tweet by the military spokesman also included the link to a Hindustan Times article (Afghanistan, Pakistan and the F-16: Mattis has to hardsell these issues on his visit to India) and YouTube link to the confessional statement of Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav. The strong statement came a day after 22-year-old Lieutenant Arsalan Alam was martyred in a cross-border attack in Khyber Agency. The young officer was commanding a post in Rajgal Valley, which borders Afghanistan when it came under fire from the Afghan side. Indian aggression has also intensified on the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary. A girl was martyred and two children were injured on Saturday following an incident of unprovoked firing by the Indian army in the Nakyal Sector. Indian violation of the ceasefire agreement along the LoC is not uncommon, with mortars and automatic weapons often used to target innocent civilians. On September 13, a man in the Phuklian Sector embraced martyrdom due to unprovoked firing by Indian troops. Six civilians including four women were martyred in Indian firing across the border near Sialkot on Thursday. A total of 26 people, including 15 women and five children, were injured along the Working Boundary in Charwah and Harpal sectors. Published in Daily Times,September 25th 2017.