LAHORE: Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday attended the passing out parade of the first batch of the Punjab Elite Police Force (EPF) at the Elite Police Training School on Baidian Road in Lahore.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and former Punjab law minister Rana Sanullah were also among those attending the ceremony.

Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asim Bajwa in a tweet quoted the army chief as saying that the Pakistan Army's commitment to train all law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) and build their capacity to collectively work for security and law and order,

General Raheel said that the training capacity of security forces has been enhanced and the programme would be further expanded across the country, read the short statement.

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The passing out corporals also carried out mock exercises displaying their capabilities against militants.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif distributed awards and certificated to the best trainees of the batch. "I am honoured to attend the passing out parade of the Elite Force," the premier said.

"Such a force is the requirement of the country to eliminate terrorism."

He advised the passing out personnel of the elite force to perform their duties diligently and said, "Your presence should provide a sense of security to the citizens. No one can stop a nation which unites on one point."

Premier Sharif also thanked Army Chief General Raheel Sharif for 'taking personal interest in the training of the elite force personnel'.

"No criminal should escape the arms of the law. The war against terrorism is the war of the while nation," the prime minister said adding that, "The menace of terrorism was being rooted out under the National Action Plan and action is being taken against the terrorists via the Zarb-i-Azb operation."

He further said that the Shikarpur tragedy had saddened the whole nation and added that, "We wont rest till the elimination of last terrorist."

Pakistan Army's Special Services Group (SSG), Punjab Police and Turkish experts shared high standard training in the fields of investigation, intelligence and special operations.

The first batch of 468 corporals who passed out today started their general training, including Elite Police course, from April 2014.

Also read: Elite Force faces dearth of resources

The second batch of 462 corporals joined the training in June 2014 and would complete their two-month specialised training on March 31, 2015.

The basic qualification for corporals was graduation, but a good number of them are master degree holders, vets, engineers and MBAs, according to the Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department.