ISLAMABAD: Senior commanders of the army were briefed on Wednesday on the Taliban threat and other external challenges.

The briefing was given to the commanders at the day-long 72nd Formation Commanders’ Conference held at the General Headquarters. It was chaired by Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif.

The meeting is a bi-annual feature which is attended by corps commanders, principal staff officers at the GHQ and all formation commanders.

It was held at a critical juncture as the country appeared to be moving closer to a full-scale operation against Taliban militants in tribal areas.

“The forum was given comprehensive briefings on external and internal security environment. The participants of the conference also dwelt at length on various professional matters,” a military spokesman said.

Recent incidents of terrorism and the strategy adopted for dealing with the problem were reviewed at the conference, which took place a day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a national security meeting.

A defence analyst said that since the Formation Commanders forum was not a decision-making body, no decisions were expected from the meeting.

The commanders attending the conference are, however, given a policy direction by the top brass, which they take back to their formations.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2014