RAWALPINDI: Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor said on Thursday that ceasefire violations by India on the Line of Control (LoC) increased in 2017.

?52 civilians were martyred and 254 injured [in the 1,813 violations],? Maj Gen Ghafoor said during a briefing to the press.

He added that India did not want Pakistan to succeed in the war against terrorism.

DG ISPR said that Pakistan has deployed personnel along its border with Afghanistan with personnel presence approximately every 1.5-2 kilometres. 

Maj General Ghafoor added that the ?US needs to check anti-Pakistan role not only from inside Afghanistan but along the line of control and working boundary.?

No compromise on honour

Addressing the recent diktats being hurled towards Pakistan from the US, the DG ISPR responded with a clear statement that Pakistan will not compromise on its honour. 

?What kind of friends or allies are we, that notices are being given, Pakistan cannot compromise on its honour,? he said, adding, ?when it comes to security of Pakistan we all are one.?

He clarified that the Coalition Support Fund, received from the US, is reimbursement of money spent for operations in support of the coalition for regional peace. "Had we not supported, al-Qaeda would not have been defeated," the ISPR chief stated. 

The army spokesperson stated further that the "blame for inaction against [the] Haqqani Network might have been relevant owing to our capacity issues till Zarb-e-Azb". However, he added, the army went into North Waziristan indiscriminately and took action against the Haqqani Network as well.  

"It is the turn of Afghanistan and US to do more [rather than asking Pakistan to do so]," he added.  

Sharing terror incidents averted by intelligence agencies, the ISPR chief said 254 incidents were averted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, 177 in Balochistan, 28 in Sindh and 18 in Punjab.

Moreover, sharing statistics, the DG ISPR said the army implemented 768 development and public sector projects. 

He added that 96 per cent of temporarily displaced persons have returned to their native areas in the tribal areas.  

Army chief's message: 'United we rise'

Towards the end of the press conference, the army spokesperson shared a special message from Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa: As there is an established conglomeration of anti-Pakistan forces (state/non-state) attempting to destabilise and weaken Pakistan, we must continue to present a united front to defeat their nefarious designs.