Army will defend every inch of Pakistan: Raheel Sharif

Amid rising tensions with India, Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif on Friday said the army will defend "each and every inch" of Pakistan "no matter what the cost".

The Army chief, addressing officers at the National Counter-Terrorism Centre near Kharian, said Pakistan's armed forces "have the capability to counter the complete threat spectrum".

The remark came after the Chief of Army Staff visited the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) to inaugurate the state-of-the-art features to upgrade its infrastructure to accommodate foreign armies and Pakistan's own Law Enforcement Agencies' growing demand for training, Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement.

Gen Sharif said Pakistan has been a victim of terrorism for over a decade and sacrificed a lot but the country has turned the tide against terrorism primarily due to resilience displayed by the entire nation and professionalism of the security forces.

"Let there be no doubt that our valiant armed forces have the capability to counter the complete threat spectrum," he said while speaking to the audience, Geo News reported.

"With the backing of the entire nation we will defend each and every inch of our beloved country, no matter what the cost," he added.

The COAS was briefed by Lt. Gen. Umar Farooq Durrani, Strike Corps Commander, about the various aspects of NCTC and apprised that so far 231,000 men of the armed forces and 3,483 officers and men of Police and Civil Armed Forces have been trained at NCTC.

He said that besides imparting anti-terrorists training at the centre, five joint exercises have also been conducted at NCTC with friendly countries, including China, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Turkey, The News reported.

--IANS

sm/rn/dg