ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military hit back at mounting criticism of its long campaign against militancy and stressed its support for upcoming elections in a major public relations offensive on Monday.
The push comes one day after a rights group clashed with Taliban-linked militants in the country’s northwest, sparking fresh claims the military was backing proxy forces based in Pakistan that are fighting in Afghanistan.
Sunday’s fight between activists from the Pashtun Protection Movement (PTM) and militants during a rally Sunday left at least two dead and dozens injured on the Afghan border, according to a local official.
PTM has been calling for investigations into disappearances and extrajudicial killings by Pakistan’s security establishment, while also echoing accusations that the military allowed extremists a safe haven from which to launch attacks in Afghanistan.
But in a wide-ranging press conference, chief military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor slammed accusations that the country was harboring militants and accused PTM of being manipulated by “enemies of Pakistan.”
He went on to defend the conduct of Pakistan’s fight against insurgents, noting that thousands had lost their lives in the country’s battle against extremism.
“War is a cruel action and not a fair game, more than 70,000 Pakistanis and 16,000 soldiers have been killed and wounded in this war,” said Ghafoor during a press conference in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
Ghafoor was also at pains to emphasize the military’s support for elections set in July, as tensions mount following the ousting of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif by the Supreme Court on corruption charges last year.
Since being removed from power, Sharif has become increasingly confrontational with the military, repeatedly accusing them of unfairly targeting him and his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party.
Ghafoor said the military stood by Pakistan’s political development ahead of what is likely to be only the second democratic transfer of power in the nation’s 70-year history.
“There is nobody else happier than the army over the completion of parliament and government’s tenure,” Ghafoor said.
Pakistan has been under direct military rule for almost half of its existence, with at least 15 heads of states deposed before completing their term, often at the behest of the country’s powerful armed forces.
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Pakistan military hits back at criticism as elections loom
Pakistan military hits back at criticism as elections loom
- Since being removed from power, former premier Nawaz Sharif has been increasingly confrontational with the military, repeatedly accusing them of unfairly targeting him and his party
- “There is nobody else happier than the army over the completion of parliament and government’s tenure,” chief military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said
Trump says he doesn’t know if aliens are real but directs government to release files on UFOs
- Former President Obama recently suggested in a podcast interview that aliens were real
- Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump suggested this week that the president was ready to speak about it
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Thursday that he’s directing the Pentagon and other government agencies to identify and release files related to extraterrestrials and UFOs because of “tremendous interest.”
Trump made the announcement in a social media post hours after he accused former President Barack Obama of disclosing “classified information” when Obama recently suggested in a podcast interview that aliens were real.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, “I don’t know if they’re real or not,” and said of Obama, “I may get him out of trouble by declassifying.”
In a post on his social media platform Thursday night, Trump said he was directing government agencies to release files related “to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters.”
Obama, who made his comments in a podcast appearance over the weekend, later clarified that he had not seen evidence that aliens “have made contact with us,” but said, “statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there.”
Trump told reporters Thursday that when it came to the prospect of extraterrestrial visitors: “I don’t have an opinion on it. I never talk about it. A lot of people do. A lot of people believe it.”
Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump suggested this week that he was ready to speak about it, however, when she said on a podcast that the president had a speech prepared to deliver on aliens that he would give at the “right time.”
That was news to the White House. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded with a laugh when she was asked about it Wednesday and told reporters, “A speech on aliens would be news to me.”
Public interest in unidentified flying objects and the possibility of the government hiding secrets of extraterrestrial life re-emerged in the public consciousness after a group of former Pentagon and government officials leaked Navy videos of unknown objects to The New York Times and Politico in 2017. The renewed scrutiny prompted Congress to hold the first hearings on UFOs in 50 years in May 2022, though officials said that the objects, which appeared to be green triangles floating above a Navy ship, were likely drones.
Since then the Pentagon has promised more transparency on the topic. In July 2022 it created the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, which was intended to be a central place to collect reports of all military UFO encounters, taking over from a department task force.
In 2023, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the head of AARO at the time, told reporters he didn’t have any evidence “of any program having ever existed as a to do any sort of reverse engineering of any sort of extraterrestrial (unidentified aerial phenomena).”
The information that has been made public shows that the vast majority of UFO reports made by the military go unsolved but the ones that are identified are largely benign in nature.
An 18-page unclassified report submitted to Congress in June 2024 said service members had made 485 reports of unidentified phenomena in the past year but 118 cases were found to be “prosaic objects such as various types of balloons, birds, and unmanned aerial systems.”
“It is important to underscore that, to date, AARO has discovered no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology,” the report stressed.
Trump made the announcement in a social media post hours after he accused former President Barack Obama of disclosing “classified information” when Obama recently suggested in a podcast interview that aliens were real.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, “I don’t know if they’re real or not,” and said of Obama, “I may get him out of trouble by declassifying.”
In a post on his social media platform Thursday night, Trump said he was directing government agencies to release files related “to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters.”
Obama, who made his comments in a podcast appearance over the weekend, later clarified that he had not seen evidence that aliens “have made contact with us,” but said, “statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there.”
Trump told reporters Thursday that when it came to the prospect of extraterrestrial visitors: “I don’t have an opinion on it. I never talk about it. A lot of people do. A lot of people believe it.”
Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump suggested this week that he was ready to speak about it, however, when she said on a podcast that the president had a speech prepared to deliver on aliens that he would give at the “right time.”
That was news to the White House. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded with a laugh when she was asked about it Wednesday and told reporters, “A speech on aliens would be news to me.”
Public interest in unidentified flying objects and the possibility of the government hiding secrets of extraterrestrial life re-emerged in the public consciousness after a group of former Pentagon and government officials leaked Navy videos of unknown objects to The New York Times and Politico in 2017. The renewed scrutiny prompted Congress to hold the first hearings on UFOs in 50 years in May 2022, though officials said that the objects, which appeared to be green triangles floating above a Navy ship, were likely drones.
Since then the Pentagon has promised more transparency on the topic. In July 2022 it created the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, which was intended to be a central place to collect reports of all military UFO encounters, taking over from a department task force.
In 2023, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the head of AARO at the time, told reporters he didn’t have any evidence “of any program having ever existed as a to do any sort of reverse engineering of any sort of extraterrestrial (unidentified aerial phenomena).”
The information that has been made public shows that the vast majority of UFO reports made by the military go unsolved but the ones that are identified are largely benign in nature.
An 18-page unclassified report submitted to Congress in June 2024 said service members had made 485 reports of unidentified phenomena in the past year but 118 cases were found to be “prosaic objects such as various types of balloons, birds, and unmanned aerial systems.”
“It is important to underscore that, to date, AARO has discovered no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology,” the report stressed.
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