Army is focused on rooting out terrorism and respects all political parties

Maj-Gen Ahmed Sharif, Director General (DG) of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), stated on Tuesday that the military was committed to eradicating terrorism and that it had respect for all politicians and political parties since it was a “national” institution.

This was Maj-Gen Sharif’s first press conference after being named head of the military’s media affairs arm, and he shared these opinions during the briefing on national security and terrorism.

Maj-Gen Sharif stated at the opening of his press conference that the army’s counterterrorism operations will be the main topic of his briefing.

“We will shed light on matters pertaining to security and terrorism in the ongoing year,” he said as he gave details of the situation on Pakistan’s eastern border with India and the Line of Control (LoC) — a de facto border that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

“The situation at the LoC has remained relatively peaceful after the restoration of the 2003 ceasefire agreement,” he said, but at the same time criticised India for its “fake propaganda”.

New Delhi’s “fake propaganda on infiltration and technical air violations show India’s special political agenda,” he said.

On the other hand, Maj-Gen Sharif said, Pakistan had allowed the United Nation’s observers complete access to the LoC. “But India has not done so. They have not given them (UN observers) access or liberty of action.”

The DG ISPR said Pakistan had organised 16 trips to the LoC in the past few days, including the participation of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s secretary general and international media.

“But no such visit was organised by India, which shows that it wishes to hide the reality of the situation in [occupied] Kashmir,” he added.

Maj-Gen Sharif said India had violated the LoC ceasefire 56 times in the ongoing year, which included three violations of airspace, 22 incidents of speculative firing, six ceasefire violations and 25 technical airspace violations.

Meanwhile, he added, the Pakistan Army had struck down six spy quadcopters, asserting that the “Pakistan Army is prepared to [deal with] any such attempts by India”.

“In this regard, Pakistan’s forces, law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies have taken appreciable measures, tracked down terrorist networks and we continue to do so.”