ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) – Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Raheel Sharif has said that Pakistan is capable to thwart any aggression against the country, including from India, local media reported on Thursday.
He said this while informal chat with media persons in Islamabad, the army chief said “there is no need to worry about India. We have the capability to thwart any sort of aggression…. The situation of security and peace has improved as will further get better in future.”
The army chief’s remarks came a day after he termed Kashmir as an ‘unfinished agenda of partition’ and said Pakistan and Kashmir are inseparable.
“While we wish peace, stability in region, we want Kashmir’s just resolution in the light of United
Nations resolutions and as per aspirations of Kashmiris to bring lasting peace in region,” he said while addressing participants of course at National Defence University (NDU).
On Wednesday, the army chief described the festering dispute over the Himalayan region as an ‘unfinished agenda’ of the 1947 partition in a strong rejoinder to a flurry of provocative statements emanating from India.
“While we wish peace and stability in the region, we want Kashmir’s just resolution in light of the UN resolutions and as per the aspirations of the Kashmiris to bring lasting peace in the region,” Gen Raheel said in a speech at the National Defence University in Islamabad.
His statement came against the backdrop of rising tensions between the two nuclear-armed arch-nemeses as a result of the recent controversial statements by Indian cabinet ministers and officials.
The public admission by Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar that New Delhi would ‘neutralise terrorists through terrorists’ has particularly prompted strong reaction from Islamabad. The army chief also joined civilian leaders to hit back at India saying that they would not allow ‘proxies’ by other countries to destabilise Pakistan.