ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Wednesday that the population census was a national obligation and it would continue at any cost.
In a statement issued by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) following the Lahore blast, the COAS said that the soldiers and civil enumerators who embraced Shahadat on Wednesday in Lahore in suicide attack were on Census duty.
The COAS said that sacrifice of precious lives of civil enumerators and soldiers was beyond any doubt a great sacrifice.
General Bajwa said that these sacrifices would only strengthen our resolve and with the support of entire nation we would cleanse the menace of terrorism from our soil.
The Army Chief condoled with bereaved families and paid highest tributes to Martyrs who laid their lives in the line of duty.
Earlier in the morning, six persons including four Pakistan army soldiers lost their lives in a suicide blast which targeted a census team in Bedian Road area in Lahore.