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No doubt nation & Army have to
be one
IN his inspiring address to the smartly dressed officers of the General
Headquarters (GHQ), Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has
made some pertinent observations about sovereignty of a country and the
relationship between the nation and its Army.
It is understood that his emphasis on the right of a nation to safeguard
its national interests is very meaningful at this point of time. We are
sure that the message would get across to the powers concerned and the
Army itself would lend a helping hand in safeguarding vital national
interests at this critical juncture of the history. Similarly, his
stress on building consensus on threat with a view to garnering the
public support is also of paramount importance. One can draw a clear
lesson from the history that nations and their armies have to be
together all the time and particularly in emergencies or crisis-like
situations. We would like to say without mincing of words that there has
been an unfortunate impression of some distance between the people and
the Pakistan Army ever since the inception of the country. It has been
observed on many occasions that the much-needed homogeneity between the
two was lacking. No doubt, the Army has been playing important role both
during peace and wartimes but still there had been some element of
distrust and confusion that needs to be taken care of for the sake of
national interests. This is because not only during wartime but also in
peacetime the entire nation has to be at the back of their valiant
soldiers. It is only then that a country can preserve its honour,
dignity and sovereignty. The Army leadership will have to come out with
innovative ideas to bring the nation and the Army still closer by way of
image-building exercises. This can better be achieved by recreating
peace time role of the Army. The Army Chief has already declared 2008 as
Year of Soldier and we hope some concrete steps would be taken during
the year to achieve this noble objective.
