In a rare public acknowledgement by a serving Pakistani army chief, General Asim Munir mentioned the involvement of the Pakistan army in the Kargil war as he listed the 1999 conflict with India among the major wars fought with the two countries.

Munir, the Chief of Army Staff, was speaking during a Defence and Martyrs Day event in Rawalpindi on Friday.

The Kargil conflict of 1999 had brought India and Pakistan to the brink of nuclear war. Pakistan says it pulled out of the conflict after the US intervened to cool tempers, while India claims a decisive victory in the war that took place in the Himalayan heights.

In his speech, Munir highlighted the role of the army in defending Pakistan with the support of the people and also touched upon various conflicts with India, including the Kargil war.

“Indeed, the Pakistani nation is a courageous and bold nation, which understands best the importance of independence and how to protect it at any price. Whether the Pak-India wars of 1948, 1965, 1971 and Kargil or Siachen conflict, thousands of martyrs gave sacrifices for the security and honour of the country,” Munir said.

Pakistan had initially distanced itself from the conflict by saying that only private “freedom fighters” were involved in it. However, soon the scale of fighting revealed that the armies of two countries were fighting against each other. The the 2006 book, In The Line Of Fire, written by Pervez Musharraf, who was the army chief during the war, clearly acknowledged the Pakistan Army’s role.

Musharraf had sent in the Northern Light Infantry men in the theatre of war.

Pakistan awarded Captain Karnal Sher Khan of 27th Battalion, Sind Regiment, and Havaldar Lalak Jan of Northern Light Infantry with the highest gallantry award called Nishan-e-Haider after the war was over.

Munir, in his address, also said the country would “not allow political differences to turn into hatred”.

He said the strong relations between the army and the public would act as the foundation to defeat any enemy trying to create rifts between the two.

“The relation between the armed forces and the nation is of heart,” he said, adding that the nation always strengthened the army in all fields including, “rescue works in the events of natural disasters, foreign hostilities or war against terrorism”.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif was also present at the ceremony.

Terror plot foiled

Law enforcement agencies have arrested 33 terrorists from various banned groups, including al Qaida and 133 Brigade, and foiled a major terror plot in the Punjab province of Pakistan this week, the police said on Saturday.

The Punjab police have registered 32 cases against the terrorists and shifted them to an unknown location, according to the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab police which conducted 475 intelligence-based operations in different districts of the province this week.