A senior army officer on Wednesday said that the change of guard in Pakistan is an internal matter of that country, asserting that the Indian troops are in full control to ensure no infiltration takes place.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function in Rajouri district, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of army's Jammu-based 16 Corps, also known as White Knight Corps, Lt General Manjinder Singh also said that the army is fully prepared to tackle any type of situation along the Line of Control (LoC) as Pakistan is continuously making attempts to disturb peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

Change of guard in Pakistan is its internal matter, while the situation along the LoC is a different thing, he said, while responding to a question on the recent change of guard in Pakistan where Shahbaz Shareef has replaced Imran Khan, who was removed from office through a no-confidence vote, as new prime minister.

I would not like to comment what is happening inside Pakistan but as far as the LoC is concerned, it is our duty to guard it and the army is fully in control to ensure that no infiltration takes place, the GOC said.

Asserting that there are no inputs suggesting presence of a large number of terrorists on launching pads across the LoC, the army officer said that the dropping of weapons by drones from Pakistan is more a threat along the International Border (IB) rather than LoC and the Border Security Force (BSF) is effectively tackling the challenge.

They (Pakistan) will attempt (to push terrorists into this side taking advantage of melting of snow) by activating the launch pads as Pakistan is continuously making attempts to disturb peace (in Jammu and Kashmir), Lt General Singh said, replying to a query about the possibility of increased infiltration attempts from Pakistan with the melting of snow along the possible infiltration routes.

We are keeping a watch on the situation and our counter-infiltration measures are in place to foil all their attempts, the army officer said.

Asked about intelligence inputs suggesting increasing activity of terrorists on the launch pads across the LoC, he said, There is no alarming situation that a lot of people had gathered on the launch pads.

The number of terrorists on launch pads is an assessment and nobody has seen them physically. There are many agencies and inputs do come, but there is variation in these inputs. We do not have any input like a lot of them had gathered on the launch pads, he said, adding if the numbers are compared with last year's, there are minor variations.

On the threat posed by the use of drones by Pakistan to drop weapons on this side, he said such activities are mostly taking place along the IB being guarded by the BSF.

No major action of drones was noticed along the LoC till date. As far as IB is concerned, the BSF is alive to the challenge and are tackling it effectively, he said.

Asked about his assessment of the challenge being posed by Pakistan and China, the GOC said the major challenge for his troops is definitely Pakistan as White Knight Corps does not share borders with China.

On recent incidents of terror attacks in Rajouri, he said whenever there is peace and development, the enemy is not happy and makes an attempt to disturb it.

Such type of sporadic incidents (are happening) to give anyone a grenade and he hurls it is the work of a coward. It did not need a lot of courage, so such type of work can be done by our enemy alone, he said.

However, he said the army and the people are together and I am sure that our enemy will not be able to break our strength and we will emerge as successful. Some of our friends who are misled by any reason will join us as well and the enemy will fail in its design.

He lauded the people for enthusiastically participating in the Rajouri Day' celebrations and said we all have joined hands and will move together for peace and development of this region.

Rajouri is a beautiful valley having a lot of tourism potential. We are making attempts to bring the Rajouri festival on the national calendar, he said.

US expects to continue 'healthy military-to-military relationship' with Pak, says Pentagon

The US has a "healthy military-to-military relationship" with Pakistani armed forces and it expects to continue the ties, Pentagon has said, days after Shehbaz Sharif became the new prime minister of Pakistan.

Pakistan's relations with the US have been lukewarm, especially under the Biden administration. The ties touched a new low after former prime minister Imran Khan, who was ousted last week through a Parliament vote, accused the US of conspiring to dislodge his government. The US government has bluntly denied the allegations multiple times.

Addressing a press briefing in Washington on Tuesday, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the US has shared interests with Pakistan with respect to security and stability in "that part of the world".

The US has a "healthy military-to-military relationship with Pakistani armed forces" and "we have every expectation that will be able to continue to be the case , he said.

Mending fences with the US would be one of the top foreign policy priorities for the new government, according to a Dawn report.

Experts opine that unlike his brother and three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz enjoys cordial relations with the powerful Pakistan Army, which has ruled the coup-prone country for more than half of its 75 years of existence and has hitherto wielded considerable power in the matters of security and foreign policy.

The powerful army had, however, distanced itself from recent high voltage political tussle between Shehbaz Sharif and Imran Khan, saying it has nothing to do with politics.

In response to a question on the election of Shehbaz as the prime minister and the allegations of Khan against the US, Kirby said, "I think you can understand that we're not going to comment about domestic politics inside Pakistan."

The Pentagon spokesperson said the US recognises that Pakistan plays a key role in the region. "We recognise that Pakistan and the Pakistani people are, themselves, victims of terrorist attacks inside their own country," he added.

Replying to a question on any possible US action if Pakistan's military intervenes amid street protests organised by former prime minister Khan, Kirby said he does not foresee any US military role in Pakistan.

"And I'm certainly not going to, again, wade into internal domestic politics in Pakistan," he said.

On Monday, hours after Shehbaz was elected as the prime minister, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had said that a democratic Pakistan was critical to US interests.

"We support the peaceful upholding of constitutional democratic principles, we don't support one political party over another," she told a press briefing at the White House.