Pakistan army should remain ready for a "full spectrum of threat", its chief General Raheel Sharif said today as he witnessed the military's warfare capabilities.
General Raheel visited the Cholistan desert in Bahawalpur district of Punjab where troops completed an intense exercises in traditional warfare.
The army chief had an ariel view of the offensive manoeuvres during the military drills onbaord a combat attack helicopter, according to army spokesman Lt General Asim Bajwa.
"With our current achievements in the ongoing war on terror and standard of conventional war, ours is the best army," General Raheel said.
The army chief said Pakistan should remain ready for a full spectrum of threat.
"We have to remain ready for full spectrum of threat....Morale of troops sky high, combat fitness commended," he said.
The troops involved in exercises are from the key Multan Corps and Bahawalpur Corps which are deployed along the border with India.
Full-spectrum deterrence allows Pakistan to counter conventional threats through tactical nuclear weapons without having to wait for a nuclear attack.
Pakistan has developed this doctrine and trying to evolve its combat rules to fight on both eastern and western sides.
Sharif appointed Chief of General Staff Lt Gen Zubair
Hayat as CJCSC by elevating him to the position of four-star general. He is the senior most serving army officer.
Hayat is from the artillery. As a three-star general, he was previously posted as director general of the Strategic Plans Division (SPD) and corps commander Bahawalpur.
The most obvious man dropped while making the two key appointments by Prime Minister Sharif is Lt Gen Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmed who was serving Multan Corps Commander.
Another officer left out is Bahawalpur Corps Commander Lt Gen Javed Iqbal Ramday.
There were two other senior officers overlooked, including Heavy Industrial Complex Taxila Chairman Lt Gen Syed Wajid Hussain and Director General Joint Staff Lt Gen Najibullah Khan.
Another Lt Gen Maqsood Ahmed serving as military adviser with the United Nations is already on an extension and WAS not eligible for promotion.
It is the record fifth time Sharif appointed an army chief as Prime Minister. If his botched attempt to replace Gen Pervez Musharraf with Ziauddin Butt in 1999 is also counted, this will be the sixth time Sharif appointed head of army.
His earlier picks were Gen Asif Nawaz Janjua (1991), Gen Waheed Kakar (1993), Gen Musharraf (1998) and Gen Raheel Sharif (2013). Of the seven army chiefs after Gen Zia, five were handpicked by Sharif.
After Gen Musharraf, all four-star generals in the army - Gen Tariq Majid, Gen Khalid Shamim Wynne, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Gen Rashad Mehmood and Gen Raheel Sharif - were from the infantry.
Gen Musharraf was the last four-star general from the artillery.
