ISLAMABAD: The military’s command said on Monday that its actions would continue to be grounded in national interest.

Its public affairs division, Inter-Services Public Relations, in a statement on the meeting of the corps commanders at the General Headquarters said: “The forum reiterated to continue supporting and enabling national efforts to play positive role in line with Pakistan’s national interests. Army Chief Gen Qamar Bajwa presided over the meeting.”

Gen Bajwa, it should be recalled, had while interacting with troops last week said: “Country comes first, self later”.

Ongoing developments in the country and their expected future direction come under discussion

The commanders’ meeting is a monthly feature in which a wide range of issues covering external and internal security to developments within the country and the Army’s professional matters are deliberated for deciding the future course of action.

Monday’s meeting was particularly important because it happened on the day the Supreme Court-mandated investigation team — more commonly known as Joint Investigation Team (JIT) — and which included representatives from the Military Intelligence and Inter-Services Intelligence submitted its findings to the apex court on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family’s offshore holdings and overseas properties.

The official statement on the meeting did not explicitly say that investigations against the Sharif family also known as Panama Papers case was discussed at the meeting, but multiple sources claimed that developments in the country and their expected future direction were discussed. Political analysts believe that scheduling the corps commanders’ meeting on a day that could potentially define the direction of the political events in the country was not without symbolism.

Officially disclosed agenda of the meeting was to discuss the developing situation in the Middle East and Afghanistan and their implications for Pakistan; and issues pertaining to military-to-military ties with Afghanistan and management of the Pak-Afghan border. The publicly stated domestic issues that were discussed at the meeting included the security situation, progress of Operation Raddul Fasaad, and contingency planning for relief operation in case of floods during upcoming monsoon season. Military’s force development was also deliberated.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2017