Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has warned the adversaries that the desire for peace must not be misconstrued as a weakness. He was speaking at the passing out parade of 146th Long Course held at the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) Kakol on Saturday. Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa was the chief guest at the event. At the beginning of the passing out parade, Parade Adjoint Major Saad Amjad Raha – riding on Burraq (White horse) – invited the army chief for the inspection of the parade. The chief of army staff was accompanied by Commandant of Kakol Major General Umar Ahmad Bukhari. High-level civil and military leaders and ambassadors of friendly countries attended the event. Cadets of 24th Technical Graduate Course and 65th Integrated Course are also among those passing out today.

Besides them, cadets of 20th Lady Course and 5th Basic Military Training Course are also part of the parade. Best performing cadet will be honoured with Sword of Honour, while gold medals will be given to two cadets of 146 PMA Long Course. Chairman Joint Chief of Staff Committee Overseas Gold Medal will be given to the best performing cadet of the friendly countries. 20 foreign cadets including four women are part of the passing out parade. These cadets are from Qatar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Iraq. While addressing the ceremony, General Bajwa congratulated the cadets for successfully completing their training. He also congratulated the families of the successful cadets. “I would also like to extend my heartiest felicitations to the cadets of our brotherly countries on completion of their military training at the Pakistan Military Academy,” he added.

The chief of army staff highlighted the role of the military in successfully exterminating terrorism from the country in its two-decade-long struggle. “Unique accomplishment that not many countries or armies claim,” the army chief pointed out. General Bajwa said the ceremony has made him nostalgic, reminding him of the day he stood before seniors 42 years ago. He said at the time he could have never imagined that one day he would be commanding this army. “Pakistan is a peace-loving country,” the army chief stressed adding that its quest for peace has led the country to reach out to neighbors. “We must give peace a chance by developing a mechanism to resolve all our battles, bilateral issues peacefully,” General Bajwa stated further. Though, he warned that the desire for peace must not be misconstrued as a weakness as thousands of brave soldiers have laid their lives to protect ‘every inch’ of the motherland.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP