The 60 hours long rigorous patrolling exercise was aimed at enhancing combat skills through sharing of innovative ideas / experiences by the participants of the forum, the military’s media affairs wing said in a statement on Saturday.

Seven teams from Pakistan Army along with a team from Pakistan Navy and fifteen teams from friendly countries including Bahrain, Belarus, China, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Maldives, Morocco, Nepal, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Türkiye, United States of America and Uzbekistan participated in the exercise. Additionally representatives from Bangladesh, Egypt, Germany, Kenya, Myanmar and Thailand witnessed the exercise as observers, it detailed.

The exercise was conducted in the semi mountainous terrain of Punjab. Over the years, the exercise has gained much prominence as a very competitive professional military activity for the friendly countries, the statement noted.

While addressing the ceremony, COAS appreciated the participating teams for their professionalism, physical and mental endurance and high moral displayed during various stages of the exercise. COAS reiterated mutual learning during such exercises and highlighted that PATS is the right forum, which appropriately combines professional military skills and tactical acumen of all participating soldiers fostering much needed team spirit in the face of evolving character of war. To this effect, Pakistan Army upholds rich soldierly attributes of “character, courage and competence which has been amply displayed by our men in the face of fight against terrorism”.

Towards the end, it added, the COAS gave away individual and team awards to the participants of the exercise. International observers and Defence Attachés of participating countries also attended the ceremony and appreciated the professional conduct of the event.