ISLAMABAD: Army Chief General Raheel Sharif asked his men on Saturday to remain ready for future challenges.

“While we pay rich tributes to all our Shaheed and Ghazi brothers, we have to remain prepared to face potential challenges,” he said during his visit to the Armoured Division at Gujranwala garrison.

Some analysts attached considerable importance to Gen Sharif’s statement released by the ISPR even though it was not made in context of the ongoing peace talks between the government and militants.

Units of the armoured corps have served in militancy-hit areas and some of them are still deployed there.

The military has so far maintained ‘strategic ambivalence’ towards the dialogue, describing it as a government initiative, and on at least two occasions — the recent Corps Commanders Conference and meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee — it underscored its readiness to take on the militants.

The government has, meanwhile, called for ‘fast-tracking’ the peace initiative to prevent it from falling prey to ‘ill-wishers’. Militant attacks have continued despite the peace process, which both the Taliban and the government claim to be progressing well.

The terrorist attacks have been claimed by what are being described as ‘renegade’ factions of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). On Friday, at least 19 people were killed in attacks in Peshawar and Quetta, both of which were claimed by Ahrar-ul-Hind group, which earlier owned an attack on a court complex in Islamabad.

However, doubts have been expressed within the army over claims that Ahrar-ul-Hind is no longer linked to the TTP.