THE 276th Corps Commanders Conference (CCC), held under the chairmanship of Commander of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) in Rawalpindi on Monday, delivered firm messages both to people of Pakistan and enemies of the country by declaring in categorical terms that national causes will be defended at all costs and in all circumstances. The military’s top brass expressed resolve to continue intelligence-based operations against terrorism originating from Afghan soil, asserting the country’s “unequivocal right” to defend its citizens. The forum, taking note of Indian rhetoric surrounding the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), expressed “resolute commitment to undertake all measures necessary” to ensure availability of Pakistan’s rightful share of water as per the directives of the government and inspirations of the people of Pakistan.
People of Pakistan have full confidence in the ability of the defence forces to defend core security and defence interests and they successfully demonstrated their power during short war with India and a bold approach vis-à-vis terrorism emanating from the Afghan soil. The strength and determination displayed by the defence forces have deterred our eastern enemy from issuing threats of aggression on the assumption of its numerical superiority in conventional sense, as was the case before the May 2025 war. However, since then, both India and Afghanistan are working together to destabilize Pakistan by sponsoring terrorism and acts of sabotage. There is documentary evidence of New Delhi and Kabul funding, training and arming terrorist outfits besides intensifying malicious propaganda aimed at sowing seeds of differences among different communities and sections of the society in Pakistan. The military forum also noted this aspect by pointing towards increased reliance on an evolving pattern of externally supported hybrid warfare and disinformation campaigns to cause unrest after last year’s Mark-e-Haq. This issue was causing concern among people of Pakistan but pronouncements of the CCC are morale boosting as the participants condemned all such forms of state-supported financing, facilitation or sponsorship of proxies and underscored that any attempts to use hybrid means to destabilize Pakistan would continue to be countered with strategic clarity and firm resolve. The military is surely doing its job effectively as its actions and operations forced terrorist outfits to run for safety to neighbouring Afghanistan and now most of the terrorist attacks are carried out by those enjoying safe havens in that country. Intelligence-based operations and targeting of terrorists and their infrastructure in Afghanistan are producing encouraging results but the counter-terrorism campaign will reach its logical conclusion only if the provincial governments fulfill their responsibilities as expected from them under the National Action Plan against terrorism. This point has again been hammered by the participants of the CCC who underscored that in addition to kinetic actions, there was an immediate need for putting in place robust governance structures in restive areas for public service and welfare as well as to break the “nefarious terror-crime nexus” thriving under vested political patronage. KP has been receiving handsome allocations from the federal divisible pool in the name of counter-terrorism and it is time the funds are audited extensively to explore whether or not these have been used appropriately. Similarly, the federal government has announced various incentives for development of merged districts of formerly FATA and it is also the responsibility of the provincial government to improve infrastructure and create employment opportunities to engage people in positive activities. Infrastructure development, job creation and promotion of education can also make a difference in Balochistan where anti-social elements are spreading false propaganda to advance their vested interests. As for the water issue, Pakistan is demonstrating extreme restraint as it wants resolution of the dispute through peaceful means but Indian actions are pushing the two countries towards a possible conflict as Pakistan is determined to defend its water rights at all costs.
