General Sir David Richards, Chief of General Staff (CGS), United Kingdom (UK), called on General Tariq Majid, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) at Joint Staff Headquarters, Chaklala and exchanged views on regional security situation and matters related to bilateral defence cooperation with focus on politico military developments in Afghanistan and ongoing operation in FATA.

Appreciating UK’s contribution in striving to bring stability in Afghanistan as well as its proactive support to Pakistan in Friends of Democratic Pakistan Forum, Chairman JCSC dilated upon the success of operations in Swat and progress of ongoing operations in SWA and emphasized on the need to synchronize efforts on both sides of the border to create mutually reinforcing effects.

While commenting on the situation in Afghanistan, Chairman JCSC said that Pakistan is suffering because of instability in Afghanistan and unless serious efforts are made to stabilize Afghanistan, security situation in Pakistan will remain disturbed. He also stressed on the need to bring about a change in strategy to deal with the situation, dialogue with the opposition groups and a mechanism to ensure neutrality by regional countries.

The British CGS lauded the sacrifices made by the people and Armed Forces of Pakistan and assured UK’s continued support to Pakistan in its efforts to eradicate terrorism and violent extremism.

General Sir David Richards, Chief of General Staff  United Kingdom (UK), meeting with General Tariq Majid, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) at Joint Staff Headquarters on Tuesday (3-11-2009) - Photo ISPR. 

Pakistan Army has established Free medical camps at Mir Ali, Razmak, Miran Shah and Village Gurbez of North Waziristan Agency (NWA). Specialist doctors of Army Medical Corps including lady doctors, Eye Specialists, Medical specialists, Child Specialists and Surgeons provided necessary treatment to the patients.

So far a total of 1650 patients including women and children have been treated. The importance of these camps increases manifold in the back drop of Operation Rah e Nijat, as Army is trying to provide succor and relief to the local population at places like Mir Ali and Razmak.

Free Medical Camps are routinely held by Army in far flung areas of NWA. Local population of the area appreciated the efforts made by Security Forces to help people through these measures.

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Participants of National Security Workshop – 10^th, being held at National Defence University visited General Headquarters today.

During the visit, participants were given a briefing on "Pakistan Army, Challenges and Response" by Major General Javed Iqbal, Director General Military Operations, the ingenuous interactive session was followed after the formal briefing.

It may be mentioned here that the National Security Workshop has been organized by the National Defence University to study the national security perspective, concepts, policies and strategies in today’s globalized world. The purpose of workshop is to make the participants aware of importance of interaction within the elements that constitute the national security. The workshop will examine the evolution of strategic thought, geo-political, geo-economic concepts and geo-strategic determinants. It will also cover the processes of decision making to assist policy makers in making well informed choices.

The National Security Workshop is being attended by Parliamentarians, Senior Armed Forces Officers, Senior Civil Officials, members of Foreign Service, Nazims, Industrialists, Lawyers and Media Representatives.

Group photograph of the participants of National Security Workshop – 10^th at General Headquarters on Tuesday. (03-11-2009) – Photo ISPR