'Mend ties with India,' Pakistan Army chief Bajwa to lawmakers

Newly-appointed Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa told the national assembly to "mend" ties with India, Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported.

“The military is ready to back the political leadership's initiative for normalisation of relations with arch-rival India,” General Bajwa told lawmakers at the Senate committee of Pakistan on Tuesday.

General Bajwa reportedly told the parliamentary forum that "relations with all neighbours had to be normalised" while urging political leaders "to try to improve relations with India".

Bajwa, however, also added that a large part of Indian military deployments was mostly against Pakistan, even though it cited other threats, Dawn said, adding, that India was fomenting "instability and terrorism in Pakistan" and had developed a strong "nexus with Afghan intelligence agency NDS", the report said.

India and Pakistan have been exchanging heavy fire along the border in the past two months even as both sides decided to not to engage in gunfire.

Bajwa, who was appointed by ousted Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was an infantry officer and had commanded Pakistan army's 10 Corps which is responsible for guarding the area along the Line of Control (LoC) with India.

Bajwa is the fourth officer from the infantry's Baloch Regiment to become the army chief.