Secretary of Defence Lt. Gen ® Syed Athar Ali on Saturday explained to an Inquiry Commission on Abbottabad Operation that our strategic assets are well protected and an elaborate defensive mechanism is in place. The fourth meeting of the Inquiry Commission on Abbottabad Operation was held
on August 20, under the Chairmanship of Justice Javed Iqbal, Former
Senior Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the President of the
Commission. The meeting was attended by members of the Commission including Abbas Khan, I.G. ®, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, and Lt. Gen. ® Nadeem Ahmed.
Secretary of Defence gave a detailed statement to the Commission explaining the salient features of the Defence Policy of Pakistan.
He stated that the Defence Policy
of Pakistan was approved by the Defence Committee of the Cabinet which
is headed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
He explained that the Defence Policy directs Joint Staff Headquarters (JSHQ) to formulate the Joint Strategic Directive. The Joint Strategic Directive (JSD) was issued in 2007 following extensively debated within the Armed Forces at JSHQ and acts as a main document for the Armed Forces for everything including their composition, structuring, development plans, training, methodology, employment strategy, etc. The JSD in turn issues specific instructions to the Armed Forces to prepare for countering the identified threat.
He also apprised the Commission that none of the Govt departments, neither Ministry of Defence nor even Joint Staff Headquarters or any Military service has ever considered USA or Afghanistan as a direct threat.
He explained that the Defence Policy directs Joint Staff Headquarters (JSHQ) to formulate the Joint Strategic Directive. The Joint Strategic Directive (JSD) was issued in 2007 following extensively debated within the Armed Forces at JSHQ and acts as a main document for the Armed Forces for everything including their composition, structuring, development plans, training, methodology, employment strategy, etc. The JSD in turn issues specific instructions to the Armed Forces to prepare for countering the identified threat.
He also apprised the Commission that none of the Govt departments, neither Ministry of Defence nor even Joint Staff Headquarters or any Military service has ever considered USA or Afghanistan as a direct threat.
He said that the Pakistan armed forces are now better prepared to respond to any such recurrence, adequate safeguards have been taken. Defence Forces have instituted certain measures to preclude possibility of such a recurrence in future accordingly.
Next meeting of the Commission will be held soon after Eid holidays. APP
