DG ISPR Major General Ahmed Sharif siad on Tuesday that the army has already made it clear that it has no role in politics and would not want to be seen as having a favourable bend towards any political party.

Addressing a press conference, he said that the military was ready to deal with all internal and external threats to the country.

“We are battle-hardened and ready,” Maj General Sharif said.

“We would never want to be associated with a particular political party’s point of view,” he said, adding that the military had already announced that it had nothing to do with politics and would operate inside its constitutional role.

“Using army to suppress a particular ideology can lead to anarchy,” the DG ISPR said.

The press conference was the DG’s first since taking charge in December last year and included a briefing on the secuirty situation and a question and answer session with journalists as well.

India and Kashmir

DG ISPR said that Pakistan will ‘take the war to India if needed’ to ensure peace in the country.

He said that India violated the ceasefire agreement 56 times which included three violations of airspace, 22 acts of speculative firing, six ceasefire violations and 25 technical airspace violations.

He said that Pakistan had shot down six Indian quad-copters and was prepared to deal with any such threats from India.

He also said that India routinely makes claims of false flag operations against Pakistan to divert attention from its local issues.

“Kashmir will never be an integral part of India,” the DG ISPR said.

He also rebutted claims made by former Army Chief General Bajwa regarding the army’s operational preparedness.

“We have fought a a war for over two decades, we are battle hardened and ready,” he said.

Two journalists had claimed that in 2021, then Army Chief General Bajwa had told them that the army did not have enough resources to fight India.

Terrorism inside Pakistan

Major General Ahmed Sharif revealed that over 8,000 intelligence-based operations were carried out against terrorists in the ongoing year and over 1,500 terrorists killed or apprehended. He added that upto 70 operations were being carried out inside a single day.

’There are no no-go areas in Pakistan today,“ Maj General Sharif said.

As a whole, the DG ISPR revealed, there had been 436 incidents of terrorism in the country in the past year. In these attacks, 293 people had been killed and 521 injured.

He also said that the attack on the mosque in Peshawar’s police line area was done by a proscribed outfit on the orders of the TTP and the attacker had come from Afghanistan. He added that the mastermind of the attack had been arrested.

He said that the army had successfully fought terrorism inside Pakistan for two decades and is determined to fight it out till the end.

Answering a question about negotiations with the TTP, the DG ISPR said that the decision for the talks had been made by the past government.

“The military’s equation with the terrorists is based on kinetic operations only, it is a military matter.”

Domestic matters

In response to a question the DG ISPR said that the army was being criticised from multiple sides, including journalists sitting abroad as well as organistaions reporesenting the army’s veterans, but the constitution allowed for freedom of speech to everyone.

“We will not reply to every bit of criticism one by one,” Maj General Sharif said. However, he added that organistaions reporesenting the veterans should not show political affiliations.

On elections, he said that the army was aware of its role for security in elections under Article 245 of the constitution but the Ministry of Defence had to decide whether the army could be appointed for election duties. He also said that the the ECP reply that had been submitted in the Supreme Court regarding the security situation for elections was based on ‘ground realities’.

He also declined to answer a question about the calls for a court martial of General Bajwa and former DG ISI General Faiz Hameed. He also said that questions regarding Kalbhushan yadav should be addressed to the Foreign Office, not the army.