ISPR, has said on Friday the armed forces were always prepared to defend Pakistan against its enemies, adding that a comment by the former army chief, Qamar Javed Bajwa, about the country’s battle readiness was taken “out of context” by the media in recent days.
The statement was issued after a senior Pakistani journalist, Hamid Mir, appeared on a television talk show where he quoted an old conversation with Bajwa in which he allegedly told a group of 20 to 25 journalists that the army was not in a position to get into a war due to the outdated military hardware.
“Recently, there have been discussions in the media on the Pakistan Army’s combat worthiness in view of the condition of certain weapon systems in its inventory,” said the ISPR statement. “To this end, views of the former army chief on the future threats to Pakistan, which he shared with media persons in an off-the-record interactive session, have been quoted out of context. The army assures the people of Pakistan that we always took and will continue to take pride in our operational preparedness and utmost combat worthiness.”
The former army chief has faced unprecedented criticism for political engineering from almost every party since his retirement last November.
The talk show participant also claimed that Bajwa “made a deal on Kashmir” with India which had yet to be made public.
