Will continue to defend motherland at all costs: COAS

RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Sunday said the Pakistan Army will continue to defend the motherland at all costs.

"The Pakistan Army has, is, and will continue to defend the motherland," the COAS said. "We salute the martyrs [who have laid their lives for Pakistan]."

Pakistan is a resilient nation, a tweet by the DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor said. 

“Hostile foreign to destabilise Pakistan have been exposed and continue to be defeated,” Major General Ghafoor said. 

The tweet by the military spokesman also gives the link to a Hindustan Times article (Afghanistan, Pakistan and the F-16: Mattis has to hardsell these issues on his visit to India) and YouTube link to the confessional statement of Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav 

The strong statements come soon after 22-year-old Lieutenant Arsalan Alam was martyred in a cross-border attack on Saturday in Khyber Agency. 

The young officer was commanding a post in Rajgal Valley, which borders Afghanistan when it came under fire from the Afghan side

Indian aggression has also intensified on the Line of Control (LoC) and Working Boundry. 

A girl was martyred and two children were injured on Saturday following an incident of unprovoked firing by the Indian army in the Nakyal Sector of the LoC.

Indian violation of the ceasefire agreement along the LoC is not uncommon, with mortars and automatic weapons often used to target innocent civilians.

On September 13, a man in the Phuklian sector embraced martyrdom due to unprovoked firing from Indian troops. 

Six civilians including four women were also martyred in Indian firing across the border near Sialkot on Thursday. A total of 26 people, including 15 women and five children, were injured along the Working Boundary in Charwah and Harpal sectors.

Meanwhile, an intelligence-based operation, carried out by the security forces in Gara Madda area of Dera Ismail Khan on Sunday, that resulted in the killing of three suspected terrorists. 

The operation was carried out as part of Operation Raddul Fasaad, launched by the army with the support of other law enforcing agencies earlier this year.