During his tenure, Pakistan and India came to the brink of full war in 2019 in the wake of the Pulwama attack

Bajwa, who is expected to retire after his extended six-year tenure in November, however, asserted that the desire for peace must not be construed as weakness

Pakistan Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa is in the last essay of his stint as the army leader. In the backdrop of the country going through its worst period, both on the economic and human front courtesy of the devastating floods, Bajwa is now batting for peace. Without naming India Bajwa called for the resolution of all bilateral ties.

“We must give peace a chance by developing a mechanism to resolve all our bilateral issues peacefully. Moreover, as opposed to fighting each other, we should collectively fight hunger, poverty, illiteracy, population explosion, climate change and disease,” said Bajwa at the passing-out parade at Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Bajwa, who is expected to retire after his extended six-year tenure in November, however, asserted that the desire for peace must not be construed as weakness.

“I must highlight here that our desire for peace must not be construed as our weakness. No one should make any mistake about our collective resolve to defend our core interests and every inch of our motherland,” he added.

“We are trying our best to break the political logjam which has denied the countries of South Asia to move forward and resolve all regional and bilateral issues in a peaceful and dignified manner.”

However, experts were not too amused with Bajwa's call. Indian Army's Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain stated it wasn't the first time that Bajwa had came up with such lofty statements.

"This is not the first time that General Bajwa has talked about peace with India. But the follow-up has hardly been evident," Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain said.

"Whenever you speak about these things, it must be followed with executive direction and some kind of demonstration which unfortunately has been missing," added the army veteran.

While Bajwa batted for a peaceful resolution of the relations, he didn't bring Kashmir into the conversation which experts believe was a rarity from the Pakistani army chief.

In April earlier this year, Bajwa had worked the peaceful resolution of disputes between the two neighbours into his speech but added the Kashmir caveat again.

“Pakistan continues to believe in using dialogue and diplomacy to resolve all outstanding issues including the Kashmir dispute and is ready to move forward on this front if India agrees to do so,” Bajwa said.

While Bajwa may have toned down his rhetoric, it was during his tenure that India-Pakistan had come perilously close to a war after the dastardly Pulwama attack in 2019.