Afghanistan<\/a>. Post-US withdrawal, a modicum of stability has been seen in the country with reduction in violence. However, the situation remains volatile,\u201d noted the army chief.<\/p>\nThe army chief noted that Islamabad\u2019s strategic partnership with Beijing has \u201cendured the upheavals of strategic environment through many decades\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ever-sharpening global power contestation, however, now places Pakistan in a delicate position with regard to balancing our relationship with China and the West. Pakistan is trying to steer itself prudently in this increasingly contested strategic environment and ensuring that we are not pulled into any future iteration of cold war,\u201d said Gen Bajwa.<\/p>\n
The army chief noted that \u201cIran\u2019s peculiar geo-strategic orientation\u201d is a source of concern for the world but assured that Pakistan has \u201calways desired peaceful and friendly relations with our Muslim neighbour and tried to maintain a positive working relationship\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the internal front, Pakistan\u2019s successful counter-terrorism campaign has turned the tide of terrorism and we continue to make meaningful efforts to overcome the menace of extremism and residue of terrorism,\u201d said Gen Bajwa.<\/p>\n
However, the outgoing army chief raised concern about the \u201cworrisome trend\u201d of the \u201cstreaks of political intolerance\u201d in Pakistani society.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will keep striving for a society which is tolerant, rational and does not discriminate on the basis of political orientation, faith, ethnicity or creed. Another major concern is economic frailty, which tends to exacerbate other issues concerning human security such as health, education, access to food and clean water, and mitigating threats posed by climate change,\u201d said Gen Bajwa to a question on the main challenges facing Pakistan.<\/p>\n
‘Emancipation of people of border areas top priority of Pakistani leadership’<\/strong><\/p>\nWhile talking about Pakistan\u2019s campaign against terrorism, Gen Bajwa stated that the emancipation of people of border areas is a \u201ctop priority of Pakistan\u2019s civil and military leadership\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll these issues are closely intertwined and every step taken towards that direction remains close to my heart,\u201d said the army chief.<\/p>\n
\u2018Military diplomacy complementary to Pakistan\u2019s foreign policy\u2019<\/p>\n
The general was also asked about Pakistan\u2019s ties with the Middle East to which he stated that the country enjoys a \u201cspecial bond and fraternal ties\u201d with Gulf Cooperation Council and other Middle Eastern countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cPakistan remains grateful to our brethren for their generous and unconditional support to Pakistan, especially during testing times,\u201d said the army chief, adding that Islamabad has always supported the strategic interests of its Middle Eastern friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cMilitary diplomacy is complementary to Pakistan\u2019s foreign policy and plays its due role in fostering Pakistan\u2019s bilateral relations with other countries, including in the Middle Eastern region. Our intimate engagements with the Arab countries at the leadership level have continuously helped nurture the long-standing ties and translate them into practical cooperation in areas of common interests,\u201d said the army chief.<\/p>\n
Youth must remain shielded from divisive propaganda: Gen Bajwa<\/strong><\/p>\nWhen asked about his message to the youth, the army chief urged them to \u201cdevote their time and energy towards education and skill development\u201d.<\/p>\n
But the general warned the youth to ensure that they \u201care shielded from divisive propaganda and information warfare\u201d which is aimed to polarise the society and erode the mutual trust the army enjoys with the public.<\/p>\n
\u201cPakistan should always come first \u2014 before any other marker of identity,\u201d said Gen Bajwa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Decision to become ‘apolitical’ will help enhance army’s ‘prestige’: Gen Bajwa. Outgoing army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa believes that the army\u2019s decision to become \u201capolitical\u201d will help enhance its prestige in the long term. \u201c[The] Pakistan Army has always remained a dominant player in national decision-making. Due to its historic role in country\u2019s politics, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":12421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,2],"tags":[7628,673,457,1059,1599,138],"class_list":["post-12420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-pakistan","tag-asim-munir","tag-coas","tag-ispr","tag-pakistan-army","tag-qamar-javed-bajwa","tag-pakistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}