Threat of terrorism: Army ready to defeat aggression, says Raheel

Attends earth-breaking ceremony of National Counter Terrorism Centre in Kharian

ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif has said Pakistan army is fully prepared to deter and defeat any form of aggression across the entire spectrum of threats.

“With its unique accomplishment of confronting both conventional and sub-conventional threat, Pakistan Army is respected for its achievements and sacrifices the world over,” Gen Raheel was quoted as saying in a statement issued by ISPR on Tuesday.

The earth-breaking ceremony, at Pabbi in Punjab’s Kharian sub-district, of upcoming National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) — a state-of-the-art facility with large capacity to impart quality training to troops for combating terrorism.

“Since we will have to fight this menace of terror together with other law enforcing agencies across the nook and corner of the country, the army will do its part to train paramilitary forces, police, constabulary and levies also at this facility,” the army chief said.

He said the NCTC Pabbi will also cater for the growing demand of training requests from other friendly armies.

A military official told The Express Tribune that establishment of a counter terrorism centre is part of a ‘paradigm shift’ the armed forces are currently undergoing due to the growing threat of extremism and terrorism.

“Our armed forces were mainly trained to deal with conventional threat but the current internal security situation requires comprehensive approach to counter all kinds of threats,” the official said, while requesting anonymity.

General Raheel has also been credited for a rethink in the military’s strategy. He is believed to have done a lot of work for evolving counter-terror strategy while serving as Inspector General Training and Evaluation before his appointment as army chief.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2014.