COAS in UK not USA, clarifies ISPR DG

The closing ceremony of the Pak-Turkiye joint military exercise “ATATURK-XII 2023” was held at Tarbela Thursday, said a statement issued by Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).

Troops from the Turkish Special Forces and Pakistan’s Special Service Group (SSG) participated in the exercise. The two-week-long exercise was aimed at sharing mutual experiences in the counter-terrorism domain, rehearsing/adopting best practices and enhancing cooperation between the two armies.

Drills/techniques regarding Compound & Cave Clearance, Sniper Training, Improvised Explosives Devices (IED) handling and Combat Medic training were special focus areas of the joint exercise.

This is the 12th joint exercise of the Ataturk series as part of bilateral military cooperation between both friendly countries.

Major General Asad Nawaz Khan, Director General Military Training witnessed the closing ceremony as chief guest.

Turkish military delegation was headed by Centre Commander for Counter-Terrorism Training and Exercise, Colonel Mustafa Kahraman,  who also attended the closing ceremony.

Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir is currently visiting the United Kingdom, not the United States as rumoured on social media.

There were rumours and speculations on social media regarding the army chief’s visit to the United States.

However, Inter Services Public Relations Director General Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry took to Twitter to dispel these speculations and rumours and said the COAS was visiting the UK in connection with the 5th Pakistan-UK Stabilisation Conference.

“There have been baseless speculations on social media that COAS is visiting USA. It is categorically stated that COAS is on an official visit to UK from 5th to 10th February in connection with 5th Pakistan-UK Stabilisation Conference, which is a bi-annual event for military to military cooperation between the two countries. Senior Pakistan military leadership has been participating in the event since 2016,” he wrote.