Pakistan's top military leaders resolved to support the government in showing "zero tolerance" towards militancy in Malakand division in a meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) on Thursday. "While examining the prevailing situation in Malakand division, the JCSC expressed satisfaction over the progress of operations in Lower Dir, Buner and adjoining areas and resolved to extend maximum support to the government in stamping out any spillover of militancy in these areas with zero tolerance," an ISPR spokesman said after the meeting.
Nuclear assets: The JCSC strongly dismissed the "undue alarm" being raised especially by the western media and ruled out any danger to Pakistan's nuclear assets. "The JCSC expressed full confidence in the robust custodial controls and multi-layered arrangements put in place to ensure fail-safe security of these assets," the ISPR spokesman said.
The participants of the meeting were given comprehensive briefings on the external and internal security situation with specific focus on the evolving internal challenges and the measures to improve domestic stability. "The JCSC also discussed the security situation in Balochistan and Karachi," he said.
"The committee also evaluated the revised US policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan with a view to making security related recommendations to the government," the spokesman said.
JCSC Chairman General Tariq Majeed chaired the meeting. The chiefs of the army, navy and air force, and senior civil and military officials attended.
Meanwhile, ISPR Director General Maj Gen Athar Abbas dismissed a report in the New York Times that claimed that Pakistan had agreed to move 6,000 troops from its Indian border to its western border with Afghanistan. "The story is not correct," he told Daily Times.