RAWALPINDI – Director General ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor says Pakistan is a responsible nuclear-capable state and any misadventure from India will be responded in a befitting manner.
He was responding a question about heavy military build-up by India while addressing a news conference in Rawalpindi this afternoon.
Major General Asif Ghafoor said Pakistan wants stability in the region as war has always brought destruction and miseries to people.
He expressed concern over increasing ceasefire violations on the Line of Control and Working Boundary by the Indian forces.
DG ISPR said fifty-five civilians have so far been martyred in the ceasefire violations by the Indian forces this year, which is the highest number in the history during this period.
He said Indian forces are deliberately targeting civilians across the Line of Control.
The DG ISPR said Pakistan has taken several positive initiatives for peace with India, and the latest one is groundbreaking of Kartarpur corridor.
Regarding Afghan peace process, the DG ISPR said this political reconciliation must succeed. We wish the United States leaves Afghanistan as a friend of the region, not as a failure.
Assuring Pakistan’s cooperation for the process, the DG ISPR said Pakistan will facilitate the Afghan peace process to the maximum level it can.
He said Pakistan has always been adopting the stance that political reconciliation is the only solution to the Afghan conflict. Major General Asif Ghafoor said Pakistan is fencing its 2611-kilometer border with Afghanistan to check cross border terrorism. He said Pakistan has cleared its areas of terrorists through successful kinetic operations.
Giving overview of the internal security situation, the DG ISPR said that law and order has greatly improved across the country.
DG ISPR expressed confidence that there will be complete peace in the country as a result of the ongoing stability operations.
He said incidents of terrorism and other crimes like kidnapping for ransom and extortion have greatly decreased in erstwhile FATA, Balochistan, and Karachi.
Major General Ghafoor said over three thousand Ferraris have laid down their arms in Balochistan during three years. He urged the disgruntled elements in Balochistan to relinquish their violent path and join the national mainstream. He said position of Karachi on the index of law and order in the world has imrpoved from six to 67. The DG ISPR said forty-four major operations and over 42,000 intelligence based operations were carried out across the country as part of Raddul Fasaad Operation. He said over 32,000 arms of various calibers were recovered. The DG ISPR said Pakistan has reached watershed point where internal fault lines like economy, governance, and religious and sectarian diversity have to be addressed. Regarding the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement demands, he said all the three demands, including reduction of check posts in erstwhile FATA, clearing of mines, and recovery of missing persons, have been effectively pursued. He said, 4,000 out of 7,000 cases of missing persons have been settled, while process is underway in the remaining cases. He urged the media to play its effective role in projecting soft image of Pakistan as it did to shape public opinion against terrorism.
