ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday formally handed over the Baton of Field Marshal to Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, who was earlier awarded the highest military rank.
The ceremony was held at the Presidency (Aiwan-e-Sadr), in which President Asif Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other dignitaries also attended.
Speaking on the occasion, the president said they had gathered to pay homage to the brave soldiers. The army chief led the armed forces on the front during the recent Pakistan-India war, he emphasised.
In his remarks, the prime minister said the armed forces through an effective and swift response had defeated the enemy.
INDIAN-BACKED PROXIES
Earlier in the day, a corps commanders meeting said, “No one can coerce Pakistan through the use or threat of force. The nation will take all measures necessary to safeguard its vital interests.”
In this connection, the meeting expressed the resolve to dismantle and decimate the Indian proxies – terrorist outfits – in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
According to the ISPR, the forum reaffirmed Pakistan’s unyielding resolve to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity against any act of aggression or misadventure.
The meeting held GHQ in Rawalpindi offered prayers for “the martyrs of Operation Bunyanum Marsoos and the heinous terrorist attack in Khuzdar, Balochistan, an atrocity perpetrated through India-sponsored proxies which resulted in the loss of four innocent children and two adults”.
The forum “unequivocally condemned this barbaric act”.
Hence, the corps commanders noted that deliberate targeting of non-combatants, particularly children, was as a reprehensible violation of all norms of humanity and international conduct.
At the same time, the participants extended their felicitations to the army chief on his conferment as Field Marshal. They acknowledged his strategic foresight, resolute leadership, and enduring contributions to national defence.
SALUTE TO POLITICAL LEADERSHIP
During the meeting, they also “saluted the political leadership for their foresight and steering the Nation during the Marka-e-Haq [Pakistan-India war] with utmost clarity, conviction and resolve”.
About the decisive response, they said “history would recall with pride Pakistan’s swift and resolute defensive posture”.
It neutralized a grave threat within hours of its emergence, the ISPR statement said. “Pakistan responded with strategic restraint and operational clarity, upholding both deterrence and moral authority.”
INDIAN PROXIES:
On the other hand, the corps commanders held a detailed discussion on the threat posed by India-backed terrorist proxies operating in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Following its military failure in the wake of the Pahalgam incident, India had increased “the use of covert means, employing non-state actors to pursue its destabilization agenda”, it was noted.
“Pakistan will never allow its peace to be compromised by externally sponsored terrorism.”
The corps commanders promised that the armed forces, in close synergy with intelligence and law enforcement agencies, would pursue all proxies and facilitators of terrorism with unrelenting resolve.
“These hostile elements, trained and financed to incite chaos and fear, will be dismantled and decimated with full force of national will and institutional strength,” said the meeting.
