Pakistan Army Chief General Raheel Sharif ISLAMABAD, Oct 18 (agencies): Pakistan's powerful army chief vowed Saturday to thwart any "aggression" against the country, in a thinly-veiled warning to arch rival India after a spate of deadly cross-border firing incidents in the disputed Kashmir region.
At least 20 civilians have been killed and thousands on both sides of the de facto border have fled their homes since October 6, which marked the beginning of some of the worst frontier shelling in years.
"Sentiments of goodwill and amity notwithstanding, let there be no doubt that any aggression against our beloved country will get a befitting response and no sacrifice will be too great in this sacred cause," Pakistan's army chief Raheel Sharif said, in an apparent swipe at India.
Pakistan's powerful Army Chief General Raheel Sharif said that the resolution of Kashmir issue was imperative for the establishment of sustainable peace in the region.
Addressing a passing-out parade at the Military Academy in Kakul, General Sharif said that the people of Kashmir should be allowed to decide their fate in the light of United Nations resolutions.
"We persistently seek peace in the region and beyond. This quest for peace is our nation's greatest strength. We desire regional stability and relationship based on equality and mutual respect," he said.
The army chief added that Pakistan's armed forces were fully capable of meeting any external threat. Any aggression against Pakistan will get a "befitting response," he said.
General Sharif pointed out that the military operation in North Waziristan was successfully going on and it would continue till militancy is completely wiped out.
He said the objective of the armed forces is to establish peace in the country and they have already destroyed the organised network of terrorists which was based in North
The nuclear-armed neighbours, who have fought two wars over Muslim-majority Kashmir, have traded blame for the recent violence in the disputed Himalayan region.
"We persistently seek peace in the region and beyond," Sharif said while addressing a parade at a military academy near Islamabad.
But "lasting peace in the region will only come about with the fair and just resolution of Kashmir issue," he added.
Pakistan's military Tuesday said it had voiced concern to India at continued firing across the Kashmir frontier and in Punjab province when senior officials from both sides spoke via a special hotline.
Clashes occur regularly along the disputed border known as Line of Control (LOC) as well as along the frontier dividing Indian Kashmir from Pakistan's Punjab province.
Kashmir has been a sore point in India-Pakistan relations ever since independence from Britain in 1947, with each country controlling part of the scenic mountain territory but claiming all of it.
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