The 82nd Formation Commanders Conference was recently held at GHQ under the leadership of Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir, NI (M). The forum took a holistic view of the ongoing counter-terrorism operations across the country and expressed resolved that all terrorists, their facilitators, and abettors, working on the behest of hostile forces against Pakistan will be dealt with full might of the state. While commenting on the ongoing deadly conflict in Gaza and the West Bank, the forum expressed unequivocal diplomatic, moral, and political support to the people of Palestine and reiterated Pakistan’s principled stance supporting the two-state solution, based on pre-1967 borders with Al Quds Al Sharif as the capital of Palestine. The top brass of the Pakistan military also held in-depth discussions regarding the ongoing human rights situation in India’s Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and reaffirmed Pakistan’s resolve to continue its unhindered political, diplomatic, and moral support to its Kashmiri brethren until the Kashmir dispute is resolved in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
The Kashmir and Palestine disputes are the two major political and territorial issues, that bar the fundamental rights and freedom of several million Muslims in India’s illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and Israel’s forcefully occupied Palestine. Being a major Muslim nation and an ideological state, the government, the public and Pakistan’s military have always had an emotional and religious view/ attachment to both issues which seriously affects Muslim Ummah. Pakistan’s founding father Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah termed Jammu and Kashmir as the jugular vein of the country while Palestine has historic religious and spiritual importance for the people of Pakistan. The Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and Muslims of the Indo-subcontinent actively opposed the illegal creation of Israel and raised their voice against the Jewish state throughout history. Pakistan has always supported Palestine’s cause at the global forums and played a pivotal role during the Arab-Israel wars in 1967 and 1973.
Pakistan Army is the world’s 8th largest military and the lone nuclear power in the Islamic world. The world is fully aware of the courage, professionalism, and capabilities of the armed forces of Pakistan, hence friends and foes alike remain curious about the Pakistan Army’s response to events and issues concerning its nation as well as the Muslim Ummah around the globe. In the wake of the ongoing Hamas-Israel war and Tel Aviv’s blatant aggression against innocent Palestinians, Pakistan’s political leadership and foreign office have categorically condemned Israeli atrocities and war crimes against innocent Gazans, trading in suitable terminology in extending all possible diplomatic, Political, and moral support to bereaved people in Palestine.
However, when it comes to Pakistani soldiers, the Pakistan Army fans inside the country and abroad always expect a strong narrative and suitably worded media release from a seven-hundred-thousand-strong military that represents over 240 million Pakistanis. Because of persistent economic and security challenges, no one expects the issuance of a war ultimatum but every Pakistani and Muslim hopes a stern message from Pakistan for the Jewish state for observance of global humanitarian law and the Geneva war convention. Pakistan’s military leadership has categorically reiterated Pakistan’s support for bereaved Palestinians yet military diplomacy was absent from the scene throughout this period. After all, the Jewish state and its allies must know that the Pakistani nation is fully committed to the Palestine cause and backs its Palestinian brethren at all forums until they succeed in their mission for a free and independent homeland on their soil.
