Army chief pays tribute to military personnel killed during Radd-ul-Fasaad

Nothing is nobler than laying one’s life in defence of motherland, says General Qamar Javed Bajwa

Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa paid rich tributes to two Pakistan Army personnel killed during Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad in FR Bannu.

The funeral prayers of the soldiers were offered in Peshawar today, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.

“Nothing is nobler than laying one’s life in defence of the motherland,” DG ISPR Maj-Gen Asif Ghafoor tweeted quoting the army chief as saying. “Salute to our martyrs. Our life and blood is for Pakistan.”

Salute to our Martyrs. Our life and blood is for Pakistan. "Nothing is nobler than laying one's life in defence of the motherland",#COAS. pic.twitter.com/19QznnrTeR

— DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) March 3, 2017

According to details, the funeral prayers for Lt Khawar and Naik Shehzad were offered at headquarters of the Army’s Peshawar Corps. Peshawar Corps Commander Lt-Gen Nazeer Butt and Lt-Gen Zahid Latif were also present on the occasion.

"During an intelligence based operation in Mullagano area, Jani Khel, FR Bannu, 4 terrorists were killed today. An exchange of fire with terrorists an Officer Lieutenant Khawar and Naik Shehzad embraced Shahadat," ISPR had said in an earlier statement on Thursday.

The military launched Radd-ul-Fasaad, the new countrywide anti-terrorist offensive, after a series of deadly bombings across Pakistan killed over 100 people last month. The decision to mount the operation was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by the army chief at the corps headquarters in Lahore. The initiative appears to be a part of efforts by the new army chief to show that he is determined to take the ongoing fight against terrorism to its logical end.

This is overall 11th military operation launched in the country since 2007 when the country adopted a comprehensive strategy to deal with terrorism. But most of earlier campaigns restricted to the tribal regions, Balochistan and Karachi.