LAHORE: Expressing satisfaction over preparedness of the army, Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif said on Friday that the highest state of vigil was being maintained along the Line of Control (LoC), Working Boun­d­ary and the international border.

“Any misadventure by our adversary will meet the most befitting response from Pakistan. Pakistan can’t be coerced through any amount of malicious propaganda,” he said during a visit to the Combat Reaction Training facility, established recently in the vicinity of Lahore Garrison.

Gen Sharif’s statement came amid heightening tensions between Pakistan and India that seem to have peaked in the wake of claims of cross-LoC surgical strikes by India. Pakistan has rejected the claims.

According to an ISPR press release issued here, the army chief exhorted all formation commanders to lay more emphasis on combat readiness, saying that training in peacetime is the only guarantor of winning a war, if imposed.

Earlier, accompanied by Lahore Corps Commander Lt Gen Sadiq Ali, the COAS inaugurated the junior campus of the Lahore Garrison Academy, and attended its first assembly.

It was a special occasion as Gen Sharif had studied at the same school from 1967 to 1972.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2016