LAHORE: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Major General Asif Ghafoor on Thursday said that India is trying to deflect attention from the “effective political struggle for freedom” in the India-held Kashmir by hurling allegations against Pakistan.
“52 civilians were martyred and 254 injured [in the 1,813 violations],” Maj Gen Ghafoor said during a briefing to the press.
He added that India did not want Pakistan to succeed in the war against terrorism.
He said: “India recently claimed that 10 of their soldiers came in Pakistan’s territory and killed Pakistani soldiers. But this is all false propaganda for their domestic audience to take focus off the effective political struggle they are facing for Kashmir’s freedom.”
“You can not lure us into such unprofessional undertaking,” DG ISPR warned.
‘No rogue elements within Pakistan Army’
When asked about former president Pervez Musharraf’s recent statements regarding “rogue elements” being responsible for Benazir’s death, Maj Ghafoor said, “I am the spokesperson for the sitting army chief and the media should ask Musharraf to defend his own statements, as of now I can say that there are no rogue elements within the Pakistan Army at the moment.”
No compromise on honour
Responding to the US’s claims regarding the presence of terrorist elements in Pakistan, Maj Ghafoor said, “No organised infrastructure of any banned organisation is present in Pakistan. We have fought twice an imposed and imported war in Pakistan and now we cannot do any more for anyone.”
“What kind of friends or allies are we, that notices are being given, Pakistan cannot compromise on its honour,” he said, adding, “when it comes to security of Pakistan we all are one.”
Clarifying about the Coalition Support Fund, he said the fund received from the US is reimbursement of money spent for operations in support of the coalition for regional peace. “Had we not supported, al-Qaeda would not have been defeated,” the ISPR chief stated.
He added: “Whatever we are doing and we will do is solely for the people of Pakistan. The aid we received (from the US), was reimbursement for the support we gave to the coalition for its fight against Al Qaeda, had we not supported the US and Afghanistan, they would never have been able to defeat Al Qaeda.”
“There are no facilitators in Pakistan and we have gone a long way to support peace in the region,” Major Ghafoor said, reiterating Pakistan’s stance on the US’s repetitive demand for the country to “do more”.
Talking about the measures taken by Pakistan against for the elimination of terrorist elements from the region, Ghafoor said, “We have started the construction of forts and posts on the Afghan border, for effective border management, what more does the US and Afghanistan want from us?”
He added: “It is time that Afghanistan and the US do more for Pakistan.”
“No country is more interested in Afghan peace than us, as we know that peace there means peace in Pakistan,” the DG ISPR said while adding that the US needs to check India’s role in the Afghan region.
“No amount of coercion can work, it is only trust based cooperation that can bring enduring peace to the region,” he said
He said the army has also taken an ‘indiscriminate’ action against the Haqqani Network in North Waziristan.
“It is the turn of Afghanistan and US to do more [rather than asking Pakistan to do so],” he added.
Spelling out incidents foiled by intelligence agencies, he said 254 incidents were averted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, 177 in Balochistan, 28 in Sindh and 18 in Punjab, adding that 96 per cent of temporarily displaced persons have returned to their native areas in the tribal areas.
Army chief’s message: ‘United we rise’
The army spokesperson shared a special message from Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa: As there is an established conglomeration of anti-Pakistan forces (state/non-state) attempting to destabilise and weaken Pakistan, we must continue to present a united front to defeat their nefarious designs.