Dr Mehmood Ul Hassan Khan

It seems that the armed forces of Armenia are on the “run” from all fronts. They started another failed attempt to spoil the peace and stability in the region through its “enigmatic activities” and “draconian provocations” at different borders of Azerbaijan i.e. Dashkasan, Kalbajar and Lachin due to which common people and servicemen remained under heavy mortar and gunship firings from the Armenian side.

Therefore, Armenia again seriously “breached” the trilateral peace agreement and committed a serious crime against humanity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of another independent country, Azerbaijan and its common civilian people.

In this regard, initially the Armed forces of Azerbaijan showed total “restrain” but unstoppable heavy shelling of Armenia forced them to take all possible countermeasures to deter unprovoked acts at its borders. Thanks Azerbaijan’s armed forced did not indulge in any so-called military misadventure as propagated by the Armenian social media handlers and remained within its borders.

Furthermore, as usual the Armenian Diasporas living in different parts of the world disseminated false, fake and fictional propaganda against so-called military encroachment of Azerbaijan side which is absolutely “untrue”, “fake” and “brainchild” of a defeated army of Armenia.

Actually they are behaving like a “fleeing army of mosquitos” which does not any vision but “revolving vicious past”, full of genocides, massacres and racial discriminations against innocent and peaceful Azerbaijan people living for centuries in these areas.  

The most recent attacks on Azerbaijan embassy in “Beirut”, Lebanon and “self-glorification” in California vividly reflected their “sick mindedness” and “conspiratorial characters” always force them to violate spirits of decency, diplomacy and development and habitually indulged in sever crimes against simple and pure humanity.            

In this context, many reports and media centers publications (September 17, 2022) reconfirmed massive destruction of military equipment and personnel of the Armenian side during the clash on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border on September 12-14.

According to these reports, 4 radars, 2 S-300 5N63 IYR radars, 3 S-300 5P85 BQ launchers, 2 S 125 RTS-125 radars, 1 radio-electronic combat vehicle, 14 cannons and howitzers, 9 mortars, 32 military vehicles, 3 KAMAZ, 1 URAL, 1 UAZ, 3 pieces of engineering equipment, 1 anti-aircraft missile complex, 35 arms with various calibers, 20 hand grenades, 2 optical devices, 2 communication devices, 14,500 pieces of ammunition and the air defense system was completely destroyed in certain directions.

Moreover, the dislocation point of one brigade of the enemy side, and firing points of 2 S-300 and 2 S-125 divisions were destroyed. It was noted that 74 fighting positions, 2 mortar firing positions and 11 strategic heights were taken under control. The recent number of losses of Armenia is at least 450. 

Ironically, the Armenian armed forces, which did not take a lesson from the crushing blows of the Azerbaijani Army against the provocations of the Armenian army, continue their reconnaissance activities in different directions of the front.

On September 16, the Combined Arms Army in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of the armed forces of Armenia, which attempted to carry out reconnaissance flights over the defense positions.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan has stated that on September 12, 2022, starting at late night, units of the armed forces of Armenia held large-scale provocations in the directions of Dashkasan, Kalbajar and Lachin of the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border. Escalation took place between armed forces of Azerbaijan and Armenia on 13 September, 2022.

According to the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan, sabotage groups of the armed forces of Armenia using the mountainous relief of the area and existing valley gaps carried out planting landmines in the areas between the positions of the units of Azerbaijan’s army and the supply roads in different directions.

Moreover, Armenian armed forces fired intensively at the positions of the Azerbaijani Army in the Dashkasan, Kalbajar and Lachin regions with different types of weapons, including mortars. As a result, there were casualties among the Azerbaijani armed forces and damage inflicted on military infrastructure.

Unfortunately, the “wandering souls” of Armenian armed forces have been designing numerous provocations against Azerbaijan in the directions of Lachin, Gadabay, Dashkasan and Kalbajar regions of the state border and behaving like “wolves knocking at the doorsteps”. The Armenian armed forces used various types of weapons and firing remained intensive and systematic.

Moreover, Armenia’s increased its “militarization” along Azerbaijan’s borders, and deployed heavy equipment and large-calibre weapons in the region indicated that Armenia was preparing for a large-scale military provocation.

In this regard, responsibility for the provocation, clashes and losses lies with the military-political leadership of Armenia. The ministries of foreign Affairs and Defence of Azerbaijan uphold that any such actions against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Azerbaijan will be resolutely prevented.”

To conclude I would like to clarify that my last article titled “Azerbaijan: Time to change the military strategy” of the last week published in different media outlets is somehow “misquoted”, “misconceived”, “misinterpreted” and “misperceived”. Armed forces of Azerbaijan are “undoubtedly” second to none in the South Caucasus. It has “great” army which has “rich history” of bravery, courageousness and “martyrdom’ and knows the art of war in its all professional and tactical formations. Its air force has many “distinctive” comparative advantages over poor Armenia.

Furthermore, its border forces units are the best in the world because they are fighting against clandestine operations of Armenian forces in which purposeful networking of wild spread deadly mines, difficult mountain terrains, hidden tunnels and geography of darkness and deceiving hang-over is creating trouble.

So it was not a gross intelligence failure on part of Azerbaijan armed forces and its secret agencies. Because they are vigilantly standing fast at borders and ever ready to sacrifice their lives for national pride, honor and sovereignty against any external aggression.

It seems that Armenia has specific madness in its current military misadventures against Azerbaijan armed forces and its civilians which should be neutralized with “flurry” of unmanned drones which will provide cheap access to tactical aviation and precision guided weapons, enabling them to destroy Armenian much-costlier equipment such as tanks and air defense systems. In this regard, formation of “new drone war units” of predators Turkish Bayraktar TB2 and Israeli kamikaze drones would be a value addition.

Furthermore, use of modern electronic war gadgetries, night vision weapons in terms of night vision monoculars, binoculars, Goggles (NVG) and night vision rifle scopes along with tactical sensors and anti-radar electronic devices should be used at the borders to closely monitor all suspicious activities of Armenian forces in the darkness.

Strategically, Azerbaijan, Türkiye and Pakistan should form a trilateral military alliance to protect their vested interest in the region and beyond.  

As per the rules and regulation, a special audit is done on completion of any project. Why was the urgency shown regarding TBTTP?

Mumtaz Ahmed Bhatti

AGP’s report on TBTTP KP is based on facts or assumptions? As per the rules and regulation, a special audit is done on completion of any project. Why was the urgency shown regarding TBTTP? A special audit has been conducted in haste for political revenge? In June, the current government asked the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) to conduct an audit of the Billion Tree Tsunami Project, which was initiated by the PTI government.

According to the Ministry, “To ensure transparency and value for money of the programme, it is necessary to conduct a financial audit of TBTTP which has not been conducted so far, as the program is likely to be completed in 2023… a special Audit should be conducted for the financial years 2019-2020, 2020-2021 and 2021-22. A special audit of TBTTP was conducted. According to the audit report, during the three-year special audit of PTI’s flagship 10-Billion Tree Tsunami Project (BTTPT), irregularities of over Rs 3.493 billion have been detected. The auditor has declared payment of Rs 1259 million as doubtful and expenditure of Rs 983 million as fictitious.

fake monitoring reports were generated for the entire Mardan Division.different forest divisions showed plantation of eucalyptus in violation of the PC-1 allocation of 10% of the total plantation. The scrutiny of the record revealed that 36% eucalyptus plantation was made against the 10% provision of the PC-1. the DFO DI Khan carried out different activities in waterlogged areas while as per the monitoring report, the said areas were dry and not waterlogged.

Rs.25.97 million were incurred for the purchase of various materials, but no stock register as well as tender documents were shown for audit to authenticate the procurement, usage and issuance of the said material, which made the whole expenditure of Rs 25.97 million doubtful. uncertified and ungraded seeds obtained from unauthentic sources not only caused Rs109.365 million losses to the government but also increased the failure chances. some officials did fake reporting of the project achievements which were duly verified by the monitoring team of the PMU. The fake reporting was carried out in Chitral, Dir Kohistan, Lower Dir, Malakand, Kunhar Watershed and Unhar Watershed Forest Divisions.

The auditor is of the view that reporting fake areas was a fraudulent practice that might not be justified. there is a high risk of misappropriation in the establishment of enclosures. The high degree of overlapping put a question mark on the management and professionalism of the whole chain of command. According to the AGP report,The whole chain of command was responsible for these irregularities and losses and should be determined. AGP’s audit team ignored some ground realities  in its report. For example, government land and private land have also been included in the report that has been issued regarding Eucalyptus more than ten percent plantation.

Because Eucalyptus plantation is done as a cash crop in KP South. Eucalyptus is the only desire of private landowners. Will the report of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, AJK and GB be similar after KP? The issue of 3.49bn irregularities is not so small. If the allegations made in the AGP report are true, it is a matter of high concern. And if the facts have been distorted in this report, then it is very dangerous for this project and for Pakistan in terms of environment. A detailed investigative report on this report will be published very soon.

On September 13, the large-scale provocations committed by the Armenian armed forces on 13th September 2022 in the directions of the Kalbajar, Lachin, Dashkasan and Zangilan regions of Azerbaijan once again show the whole world that the official Yerevan does not give up its revanchist intentions.

Armenia did not completely withdraw its armed forces from the territory of Azerbaijan by grossly violating the provisions of the tripartite statement and the agreements reached.

At the same time, Armenia continued to mine the territories of Azerbaijan, placed heavy equipments and various types of weapons in the region, and shelled our positions along the border.

After the successful combat operation carried out by Azerbaijani Army, an adequate response was given to Armenia and the firing points of the enemy were silenced. I must mention with great regret that some anti-national elements are trying to overshadow the successful military operation conducted by our army. Of course, Azerbaijani people see the reality. The people united with the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of Azerbaijan Armed Forces, President IlhamAliyev and unequivocally support these operations.

It is not in the interests of destructive forces to maintain stability, sustainable development and a healthy dialogue environment in the region. For many years, the territory of Armenia has been used to create tension in the region. The ordinary Armenian people have been victims of such policy for centuries, and it is Armenia that as a result of this policy has become a failed state of the modern international relations system. Armenia should be recognized as a war criminal country in the world. The provocations that took place on September 13 raise once again the issue of not handing over the mine maps to Azerbaijan by the official Yerevan. While not providing maps facilitates the military attacks of Armenia, on the contrary, it fundamentally complicates the defense organization of Azerbaijan.

Armenia must be recognized as a terrorist country at the same time, as the presence of buried mines in the liberated territories causes the death of the Azerbaijani civilian population. The world community and international organizations must condemn Armenia for not providing mine maps, and official Yerevan must be held legally responsible for this inhuman acts.

For this reason, the national solidarity environment in our country should be preserved as a strategic resource. Despite all the smear campaigns, as in the 44-day Patriotic War, our people are still united with the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Those who accuse Azerbaijan should not forget that our country achieves all its strategic goals under the leadership of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, and unity will lead us to new victories.

On 27th June 2022, the speech made by President IlhamAliyev at the opening ceremony of the commando military unit in Kalbajar district that “Today, the power factor is at the forefront in the present-day world the norms and principles of international law do not work” expresses the reality of the modern era. Thus, the incident that happened on September 13 once again shows that the steps taken by President IlhamAliyev in the direction of army building are of exceptional importance. Of course, battles and war have unwritten laws. Our servicemen protect every inch of Motherland at the cost of their lives. Azerbaijani Army, which dealt an unwavering blow to the enemy in the last military operations, destroyed hundreds of Armenian soldiers. Unfortunately, 79 servicemen of our army were martyred in these battles.

I express my sincerest condolences to the families and relatives of our Martyrs and wish recovery to the wounded.

JabiGuliyev

Member of Azerbaijan’s MilliMajlis, Executive Director of the Youth Fund of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan