Largest Pakistan Army war games begin

ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Army Saturday began its largest war games near the Indian border involving some 20,000 soldiers and the air force.

The six-week exercise, codenamed Azm-i-Nau 3, involves troops from all arms and services, besides engagement of various aircraft and equipment of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Online news agency reported.

It is the largest exercise since the Zarb-i-Momin war games of 1989.

The ongoing PAF exercise High Mark 2010 will be fully integrated with the army field exercise, which will continue till May 13.

The exercise is being organised in southern Punjab, Sialkot and Sindh.

The Director General of Military Training, Maj. Gen. Muzammil Hussain, said India had been informed about the exercise.

He said the exercise would be the culmination of a long and deliberate process of war games, discussions and logistic evolution of a concept of warfare that is fully responsive to a wide array of emerging threats.

The process commenced with the exercise Azm-i-Nau-2 in February.

Hussain pointed out that the army followed a biennial training pattern wherein training objectives set forth were to be achieved over a span of two years.

The training was mission oriented and based on the obtaining security environment, he said, adding that the training was methodical and progressive, culminating in map exercises, war games and field exercises at various levels of command.

“In the light of the army chief’s vision, a comprehensive package in the form of the Year of Training was formulated in 2009-2010 and now, the Pakistan Army is all set to go in the field to validate those concepts,” Hussain pointed out.

Military sources said the Pakistan Army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kiyani, would supervise Azm-i-Nau-3. All corps commanders would be responsible for their respective commands and formations.