ISLAMABAD, 26 December 2006 — Pakistan has become strong enough to repel any attack on its nuclear installations, President Pervez Musharraf said on the occasion of the birth anniversary of the country’s founder Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
“Pakistan is a nuclear power. I assure you nothing will happen to its nuclear (program) even in the event of a nuclear attack,’’ said the president. The prowess, capability and resources currently at the army’s disposal are unprecedented in the history of Pakistan, he added.
Today, he said, the entire nation and the army need to deal with internal threats posed by the Taleban, Al-Qaeda and insurgents in Balochistan. “Nobody will be allowed to challenge the writ of the state," he said.
Women Cadets Become Honor Guards
Eight women cadets from the Pakistan Army’s elite training academy yesterday became the first women honor guards at the mausoleum of the country’s founder.
State-run television showed the women contingent, clad in khaki cadet slacks, some wielding swords and others holding guns, marching to military tunes with their male colleagues in a ceremony at the mausoleum of Jinnah in the southern city of Karachi.
In November, for the first time in the history of Pakistan, the Pakistan Military Academy Kakul, in the country’s northwest, opened its doors to women. In March, women also broke into the all-male air force when four women pilots were inducted.
Forty-one women joined the army academy to undergo a rigorous six months of military training along with men before being inducted as officers into various branches of the army.
President Musharraf, who attended the ceremony in Karachi, has been promoting the role of women in Pakistan’s male-dominated society. Musharraf, who laid flowers at the mausoleum, praised the women cadets, who are to graduate next April. “I am really impressed by the girls,” Musharraf said.
“This is the future of Pakistan.” Previously, women had only served in the army’s medical corps without being trained at the academy. But the 41 women cadets at PMA will join the army as non-combat officers in the communication, engineering, legal and education branches.
Musharraf Hosts Dinner for Christians
President Musharraf hosted a Christmas dinner for bishops, minority leaders and Christian deputies. The banquet hall at the presidential palace was tastefully decorated with Christmas tree and lights. It was the first-ever state-dinner hosted for the members of the Christian community.
“We believe in interfaith harmony and follow the policy of ‘enlightened moderation’,” Musharraf said adding, “rights of minorities are well-protected in the constitution and we have doubled their representation in the Parliament. Now they feel more secure and confident.”
The president said many cadets from the minority communities — Christians, Sikhs, Hindus and Parsis — are now being inducted into the armed forces. “Sikh and Hindu cadets now get training at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul,” he said.
He said members of the minority community rendered valuable services for Pakistan. Quoting Quaid-e-Azam, he said, “Pakistan is not a theocratic state but a state where rights of minorities are well-protected. This is what Islam also teaches us.”
