Pakistan Army Chief acknowledges role of Pak army in Kargil war
Islamabad, Sep 7: In a rare public acknowledgement by a serving Pakistani army chief, General Asim Munir has mentioned the involvement of Pakistan army in the Kargil war as he listed the 1999 conflict with India among the major wars fought with the eastern neighbour.
Munir, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) was speaking during the Defence and Martyrs Day event at Rawalpindi on Friday.
The 1999 Kargil war ended with India recapturing the border posts occupied by Pakistani infiltrators. India celebrates the victory as Vijay Diwas on July 26.
In his speech, General Munir highlighted the role of the army in defending the motherland with the support of the people of Pakistan and also touched upon various conflicts with India, including the Kargil war.
“Indeed Pakistani nation is a courageous and bold nation, which understands best the importance of independence and how to protect it at any price. Whether the Pak-India wars of 1948, 1965, 1971 and Kargil or Siachen conflict, thousands of martyrs gave sacrifices for the security and honour of the country,” Munir said.
Pakistan had initially distanced itself from the conflict by saying that only private “freedom fighters” were involved in it. However, soon the scale of fighting revealed that the armies of two countries were fighting against each other.
The 2006 book ‘In The Line Of Fire’ written by then Pervez Musharraf, who was the army chief during the Kargil war, clearly acknowledged the Pakistan Army's role.
Musharraf had sent in the Northern Light Infantry men in the Kargil theatre of war. Pakistan awarded Captain Karnal Sher Khan of 27th Battalion, Sind Regiment and Havaldar Lalak Jan of Northern Light Infantry with the highest gallantry award called Nishan-e-Haider after the Kargil war was over.
Munir, in his address, also said the country would “not allow political differences to turn into hatred.”
He asserted that the strong relations between the army and the public would act as the foundation to defeat any enemy trying to create rifts between the two.
“The relation between the armed forces and the nation is of heart,” he said, adding that the nation always strengthened the army in all fields including, “rescue works in the events of natural disasters, foreign hostilities or war against terrorism.”
Pakistan Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif was also present at the ceremony, which was attended by the army’s top brass, senior military and governmental officials, and families of soldiers, among others.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
