Bajwa rakes up Kashmir, asks troops to respond with full force

Pakistan’s newly-appointed army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Friday raked up the Kashmir issue for the first time in his address to soldiers and asked them to respond with “full force” to each ceasefire violation by India.

“Each violation of any kind must be responded to with full force in the most effective manner,” he said during a visit to the 10 Corps Rawalpindi and troops at forward locations along the Line of Control.

Bajwa, who visited troops at their forward positions on the LoC for the first time since taking over the command of army this week, was briefed on the security situation along the LoC “in view of recent violations and escalation by Indian troops and Pakistan’s own response,” the army’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement.

He said India’s “aggressive posture” aims solely to divert the world’s attention away from “atrocities being committed by Indian troops” in Kashmir, the statement said.

The Kashmir issue will have to be resolved in line with United Nations resolutions keeping in view the aspirations of the Kashmiri people in order to achieve lasting regional peace, Bajwa said in his first public comments on the Kashmir issue after taking over as the chief of army staff this week.

He appreciated the “befitting response” given to “unprovoked Indian firing” across the LoC and asked troops to keep the highest level of vigil at all times, the statement said.

Bajwa’s statement came at a time when India-Pakistan relations are strained following the terror attack on an army base camp in Uri and India’s surgical strikes on terror
launchpads in the PoK.

General Bajwa, 57, took over the command of the army on Tuesday at a ceremony in Rawalpindi from General Raheel Sharif who retired on November 29.