Army prepared to counter all threats: Senate body

ISLAMABAD: Members of the Senate Standing Committee on Defence have lauded the state of preparedness of the armed forces to respond to all threats in the most befitting manner and acknowledged the sacrifices made by troops during the fight against terrorism.
The committee members on Thursday visited the Joint Staff Headquarters for a briefing on the invitation of General Rashad Mehmood, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.
The committee was briefed on matters of security and professional interest. General Rashad Mahmood was also present during the briefing.
On arrival at the Joint Staff Headquarters, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Chairman of the Senate Committee, was received by General Rashad Mehmood who, together with his team, briefed the committee members on various facets of national defence, particularly the role of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) and different dimensions of nuclear and missile programme.
General Mehmood welcomed the parliamentarians and praised the role of the Senate committee in promoting Pakistan’s security and defence through a national approach.
Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed stated that greater inter-service coordination was pivotal for national security. “We must learn lessons from the experiences of the 1965 and 1971 wars,” he said.
He said that it was imperative that parliament plays its due role in formulation of national security and in this regard, he said that the Senate Committee would urge the government to implement the National Security Policy draft, which has been prepared in June 2014, and which still needs to be promulgated by the government.
He underlined the need for institutions of national security like the Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) and National Security Committee (NSC) to meet regularly because it would not only promote better civil-military harmony but also lead to efficient implementation of policies on security and defence.
Similarly, the country’s defence policy was last formulated in 2004, and the updated Defence Policy draft was last prepared in 2010, but it still awaits to be promulgated, he said.
He welcomed the forthcoming participation of a contingent of the Pakistan armed forces in the military parade to be held in Beijing, China, on September 3, 2015, to mark the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the War of Resistance against Japan marking the end of World War II, in which Pakistan would be represented by the president as well as the chairman JCSC.
At the briefing, there was appreciation by the JCSC of the role of the Senate Defence Committee for pro-actively promoting the issue of cyber security and in formulating the principles of a cyber security strategy, given that it is an emerging security threat.
Senator Mushahid thanked General Rashad Mehmood and his team for their candid and comprehensive briefing on all aspects of national security, particularly the missile and nuclear programmes of Pakistan.
The briefing was attended by senators Farhatullah Babar, Lt Gen (retd) Abdul Qayyum, Lt Gen (retd) Salahuddin Tirmizi, Brig (retd) John Kenneth Williams, Attaur Rehman, Javed Abbasi and Sehar Kamran, Secretary of the Committee Maj Syed Husnain Haider and Director Staff Riaz Ahmad Khan.