Pakistan Armed Forces ready to respond to any Indian aggression: COAS

RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa said on Thursday that “Pakistan’s Armed Forces are fully geared to respond to any aggression by India.”

The statement of the Army chief was tweeted by DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor.

Another tweet by the DG ISPR stated that COAS General Bajwa rejected self-defeating claims by Indian COAS about ‘so called surgical strikes’ and its possible recurrence.

#COAS Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa rejects self defeating claims by Indian COAS about 'so called surg strikes' and its possible recurrence. 1 of 2

— Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) January 5, 2017

The strong statement from Pakistan’s top military commander follows Indian army chief General Bipin Rawat’s “message to Pakistan” earlier this week, in which he again raised the hollow threats of conducting further 'surgical strikes' on Pakistani soil if needed.

On September 29, India claimed to have conducted surgical strikes in Azad Kashmir, saying that several terrorists were killed in the military action conducted inside Pakistani territory.

The claims were not only rebuffed by Pakistan and the international media, but they also prompted demands from some Indian political leaders for New Delhi to substantiate it with evidence.

The Modi government drew criticism after the Pakistani military took a bus full of local and international journalists to the border area in order to show them the ground facts.

After having failed to substantiate the claims, PM Narendra Modi on October 5 barred leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party from talking to anyone over the strikes.

At a cabinet meeting he chaired later in New Delhi, Modi was unable to answer questions by the opposition which asked him to prove that the attack on the LoC was a surgical strike.