Fifty years on, September 6 remains the most distinguished day in the history of the Pakistani nation. Then, in 1965, the enemy had sneaked into Pakistan at the dead of night only to be beaten back. Today the enemy is again set on the same path, but his luck is no better than what it was on that fateful day. What transformation the enemy has undergone and how effectively it is confronted by people and forces, Army Chief General Raheel Sharif answered such questions in his address at the main ceremony on the occasion of Defence Day of Pakistan at the GHQ on Tuesday. In his all-encompassing speech, he identified the areas the enemy is trying to target and what more needs to be done to insulate the nation's courtyard against hostile intrusions. Not only did the Army Chief highlight at length the military aspect of the challenges Pakistan is confronting, he also touched upon law and order situation within the country and security-related threats looming on the national borders. Expected as it was his speech was heard by the nation with rapt attention - for he is the one the people look up to and not the ones sitting in gilded chambers of elected houses who could not even introduce a resolution befitting the occasion of Defence Day.
If anybody - the CoAS didn't name India and its proxies in Pakistan - ever thought they could disrupt the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project they are grossly mistaken. Any such attempt would be dealt with an iron hand, he warned. The project is example of a relationship based on mutual respect and principle of equality, and will lead to overall prosperity of the region as a whole. General Sharif left nobody in doubt about the protection and timely completion of the CPEC, a commitment that should put paid to the Indian leadership, particularly Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is having sleepless nights over this project. But where the Army Chief directly talked to India it was Kashmir - "Kashmir is our lifeline and we shall continue our diplomatic and moral support to the freedom movement at all levels". The solution for this struggle for self-determination resides "not in raining bullets upon the defenceless people but in heeding to their voice and respecting their aspirations". On Afghanistan his take was just the opposite of what keeps emanating from Kabul. Afghanistan is "our neighbour and brother Islamic country and peace and stability in there is vital to Pakistan's own interest". The army chief also underlined the need for an effective border management in concert with Afghanistan.
On the home front, of course the Pakistan armed forces' valiant fight against terrorism has largely succeeded, and while many a country crumbled under its threat but not this country "as the national flag now flutters from rooftops of places as hostile as North Waziristan once was". But the general wants more to be done for fuller implementation of 20-point National Action Plan (NAP). The internal and external threats have not yet fully exhausted. Extremism still reigns in some parts, a challenge the scholars, intellectuals and media must help defeat. Important also it is that weaknesses in the criminal justice system which impede complete eradication of terrorism are removed. Then there are abettors, facilitators, financiers and sympathisers of terrorist elements. The anti-terrorism operation would bear full fruit only if "all stakeholders and institutions of state play their respective roles with utmost sincerity and commitment," said the General. He took notice of those who try creating mistrust towards security and intelligence organisations, but asserted that despite all this the Army's morale remains high. In fact, without saying in so many words he has nudged the civilian counterparts to wake up to the challenges confronting the national security and do their part instead of indulging in political polemics that didn't seem to relent even on day as special as September 6.
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