Pakistan military calls Dawn story 'false and fabricated, a national security breach'

Rawalpindi: Pakistan's top military commanders have while referring to the Cyril Almeida's story published in Dawn called the "feeding of a false and fabricated story of an important security meeting", a breach of national security.

The remarks were made during a Corps Commanders Conference presided by Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif yesterday, to hold comprehensive review of the country's internal and external security situation with particular focus on the prevailing environment at the Line of Control (LoC) and operational preparedness of the army, reports Geo News.

Last week, the Dawn published a report, denied by authorities, about an alleged rift between the country's powerful military and its government on the issue of tackling jihadi outfits, after which Almeida came under fire from the government and Exit Control List was imposed on him.

The Prime Minister's Office rejected the story thrice since it was published on October 6.

During the conference, the military once again rejected Indian claims of surgical strikes as an attempt to divert the world's attention away from the Kashmir issue.

The forum also resolved that any attempt of misadventurism and irresponsible act would be met with the most befitting response.

While expressing complete satisfaction over operational preparedness of the troops, the COAS reiterated Pakistan Army's resolve to defend the motherland at any cost against full spectrum of threat.

The participants also resolved to continue sustained and focused combing and intelligence-based operations across the length and breadth of the country to uproot terrorism harmonizing it with implementation of the National Action Plan to address extremism and other causes of terrorism.