In-focus

Pakistan

No institution alone can decide national interest: COAS

Dunya News

General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has said that Pakistan is passing through a critical phase.

According to a press release issued by ISPR, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani while speaking to a group of officers at GHQ, said, “as a nation, we are passing through a defining phase.He said we are critically looking at the mistakes made in the past and trying to set the course for a better future. An intense discussion and debate is natural in this process. No individual or institution has the monopoly to decide what is right or wrong in defining the ultimate national interest, he said.It should emerge only through a consensus, and all Pakistanis have a right to express their opinions. The constitution provides a clear mechanism for it, the COAS pointed.General Kayani said we should learn from our past, try to build the present and keep our eyes set on a better future.We all agree that strengthening the institutions, ensuring the rule of law and working within the well defined bounds of the constitution is the right way forward, he said.The army chief said that weakening of the institutions and trying to assume more than ones due role will set us back. “We owe it to the future of Pakistan, to lay correct foundations, today”, he maintained.He said we should not be carried away by short term considerations which may have greater negative consequences in the future.The COAS said that the armed forces draw their strength from the bedrock of the public support because the national security is meaningless without it.Therefore, any effort which wittingly or unwittingly draws a wedge between the people and Armed Forces of Pakistan undermines the larger national interest, General Kayani said.He said that constructive criticism is well understood but conspiracy theories based on rumours which create doubts about the very intent are unacceptable.The COAS stressed upon the trust between countrys civil and military leaderships. Any effort to create a distinction between the two, undermines the very basis of this concept and is not tolerated, be it Pakistan or any other country, he said.He said that individual mistakes might have been made by everyone in the country, these should be left to the due process of law, and the fundamental principle of “not guilty until proven” should not be forgotten.The army chief said that all systems in Pakistan appear to be in a haste to achieve something, which can have both positive and negative implications.“Let us examine the two fundamental questions: One, are we promoting the rule of law and the Constitution? Two, are we strengthening or weakening the institutions? In the ultimate analysis, all of us would have served Pakistan better if history and our future generations judge us positively.” The COAS concluded.