LAHORE, May 29: Interior Minister Lt-Gen Moinuddin Haider (retired) said on Wednesday the government would take all measures necessary to equip the Pakistan Rangers with the latest equipment it needed.

Speaking after a briefing at the Rangers’ Headquaters on the present status and deployment of the force, he said the government recognized that it constituted the country’s first line of defence.

He said that there was no doubt about the Rangers’ role in time of war or peace.

Gen Haider assured the Rangers’ director general that the ministry would take up their demands with the ministry of finance.

The minister said the civil defence organizations were fully prepared to face any challenge arising from Indian adventurism.

In view of the current situation, he said, the country’s politicians should end their differences and get united. “It is time for us to show the world that we have the will, the wit and the courage to protect our country against any aggression,” he observed.