Even as President and supreme commander of the armed forces Asif Ali Zardari's health remained a matter of speculation, the military leadership of Pakistan has decided to deploy air defence weapons along the border with Afghanistan to avoid the kind of attack two Army outposts faced in the wee hours of November 26.
Though there was no official announcement, this was apparently disclosed by the Director-General of Military Operations during a briefing for the federal Cabinet and the Senate's Defence Committee on Thursday.
According to Dawn, the decision was taken in view of a threat perception along the western border from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Till now, Pakistani troops along that border were geared to deal with insurgents and terrorists but now they will also be prepared for an air attack.
Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has already released the rank-and-file from the ‘chain of command' that necessitated waiting for orders before retaliating to an attack. Both these decisions are expected to escalate tensions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and, thereby, further strain relations between the two countries, but Pakistan's contention is that it has to first protect its own territory before trying to stabilise Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, as speculation continued about the President's health — with some reports suggesting that he may be shifted to the U.K. — leading anchorperson Hamid Mir claimed he had spoken to Mr. Zardari. The President, he said, was fine and would return home soon.
Keywords: Pak-Afghanistan border, terror activities
After the stealth operation by the US forces at a place close to capital city not so long ago, the attack in the Mohmand tribal area last month can be called as adding insult to injury to the military establishment of that country.They are claiming that this 'pre-planned conspiracy' by the nato forces has violated the sovereignty through incursion into their territory and so they want to deploy air defense weapons along the western borders.They are forgetting the fact that for the past sixty years the troops belonging to the pakarmy have been giving covering fire to insurgents to facilitate their entry via the loc and regions bordering J&K for the sole purpose of destabilizing and destroying the tapestry of India's rich and invigorating culture and ethos.It's a shame that India is yet to pitch in vigorously to expose pak's blatant terror activities against it at international forums or take up the matter with those at the highest level in a more effective and engaging manner.
@AZ
You can make all your pointless arguments and spew your venom. It is not going to change the fact that the horse you were trying to ride to victory over the Afghan people turned out to be a donkey.
America's only interest now is to leave Afghanistan and still somehow keep the super-power status. They could use a spin like your drone theory. Pakistan does not need to explain anything to anyone, if our enemies don't like it, well that is just tough.
Why were Pakistani troops mistaken for militants that were actively engaging a joint Afghan-US Army Patrol? Why did the Pakistani Military deny their troops were in that area until the airstrikes were occurring? Precisely why were Pakistani troops, in bases, in the middle of a firefight (involving close air support) without engaging the people shooting at them? Is it just me, or does something smell particularly malodorous about this episode? The Pakistani army has been engaging the Afghan Army in cross-border skirmishes and firing artillery at them for years. Of course, like at Kargil, the Pakistani Junta denies any knowledge and/or involvement. Fortunately this time someone on the ground had the intestinal fortitude and the wit to call in air support which arrived. Pakistan's 'self-righteous' anger aside, it will be interesting to see if they can explain the details of what happened. As Newt Gingrich said only yesterday, he trusts the Pakistani Army to protect it's nuclear weapons, they did protect Osama Bin Laden for 10 years after all. It would appear that the Pakistani Military Junta has not learned from the Pakistani Cricket Team, you can only pull the same blatant stunt so many times before you get caught. Similarly you can only strenuously deny the obvious so many times before all credibility is gone.
PS I'm also very interested in seeing whether that drone that managed to find its way to Iran after crashlanding, was handed to Iran by Pakistan. Pakistan has already announced that it has provided China with parts of the "stealth" Helicopter that crashlanded at the Bin Laden Compound, so it isn't pure conjecture to wonder if they had a hand in this.
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