Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir has termed shooting skill as the hallmark of a professional soldier, Inter-Services Public Relations said.

He interacted with the participants of the 43rd Pakistan Army Rifle Association (PARA) Central Meet held on Tuesday, it added.

COAS Munir appreciated the firers for their excellent standards of marksmanship, saying “attaining proficiency at shooting must remain at the heart of basic military training objectives.”

The closing ceremony of the 43rd PARA Central Meet was held at Army Marksmanship Unit Jhelum, where COAS Munir was the chief guest.

The shooting event was conducted from October 3 to November 7.

More than 2,000 firers from Army, Navy, Air Force, and Civil Armed Forces including Rangers (Sindh & Punjab), Frontier Corps, and Gilgit-Baltistan Scouts as well as civilians participated in the competition.

COAS and Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu, the guest of honour at the ceremony, awarded trophies and medals to the award winners and runners-up in each category.

In the inter-services matches, the Pakistan Army won all four contests including CJCSC, COAS, CAS, and CNS matches, while the Pakistan Navy and Pakistan Air Force achieved second and third positions respectively.

Pakistan Army secured the overall Championship Trophy while Pakistan Navy and Pakistan Air Force achieved second and third positions.

The President’s Cup National Challenge match trophy was awarded to Naik Waseem of the Army marksmanship Unit.

Pakistan Army won the Prime Minister ‘Skills at Arms’ Big Bore National Challenge. Pakistan Rangers Punjab won the first prize in PARA firing matches (infantry squad).

The highest military shooting honor, ‘The Master at Arms’ Trophy was awarded to Lance Naik Banaras of the 30 Frontier Force Regiment. The ‘Best Shot Match Trophy’ was awarded to Naik Sher Afzal of 82 (SP) Medium Regiment Artillery.

Earlier on arrival, COAS was received by the inspector general training and evaluation.