INDIA DOESN’T SEEM SERIOUS IN RESOLVING KASHMIR ISSUE: ARMY CHIEF

GENERAL RAHEEL SHARIF SAYS SECURITY FORCES VALIANTLY FOUGHT TERRORISTS UPFRONT

HIGHLIGHTING the ongoing atrocities in Indian-held Kashmir, Pakistan’s army chief General Raheel Sharif told a conference of Chiefs of Staffs of the Armed Forces in Germany on Monday that India is unwilling to address historical disputes like Kashmir that directly fan misunderstanding and feed into persistent regional culture of conflict.

General Raheel Sharif, in his address during the US CENTCOM-hosted conference, said terrorists could move across borders because of no effective border management systems in place and this was being exploited by anti-Pakistan intelligence agencies such as India’s Research & Analysis Wing (RAW).

“These challenges are being exploited through confrontationalist and subversive approaches by hostile intelligence agencies like RAW that spills blood of innocent people through indirect strategy,” he said.

The army chief said that route to a peaceful and prosperous region ran through a stable Afghanistan, which is achievable through comprehensive and coordinated approach.

Elaborating the concept and success of Operation Zarb-e-Azb, the COAS said that Pakistani security forces had valiantly fought terrorists upfront through an across the board, indiscriminate operation against terrorists of all hue and colour along with their abettors, financiers and sympathisers.

He said Pakistan’s counter-terrorism efforts had turned the tide against terrorism in the country. He also said Pakistan was the biggest victim of terrorism both in terms of human lives and finances.

He said that with unflinching support of entire nation terrorists’ ideologies and their narrative had been defeated and their sanctuaries and hideouts completely eliminated. “Our efforts against residual threat are still continuing, and can’t be entirely eliminated without optimum cooperation between neighbouring countries,” he added.

The COAS said that “success of our counter terrorism operation is a common dividend which should be optimised and shared”. He also offered to benefit from Pakistan’s initiative and experiences in terms of regulation of cross border movement, socio-economic development of border regions and enhaced cooperation in terms of intelligence sharing.

Besides the host General Joseph Votel, Commander US CENTCOM, Chiefs of Armies of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, participated in the conference.

During the conference, the participants expressed their desire to improve multilateral military cooperation amongst their countries, to coherently meet the emerging security challenges and jointly defeat the menace of terrorism comprehensively.

General Raheel Sharif arrived in Germany on one-day official visit on Monday.