Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry
ISLAMABAD:
Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, said on Tuesday that terrorists had found an “enabling environment” in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which he linked to the province that recorded the highest number of attacks over the past year.
In a wide-ranging press conference at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, the top military spokesperson said the State’s stance on eliminating terrorism was unequivocal and asserted that the threat would be decisively crushed through the use of force and without compromise.
He rejected narratives portraying Pakistan as a “powerless state”, blamed foreign-sponsored terrorist networks operating from Afghan soil and described what he described as unprecedented intelligence-driven operations as the state moves to dismantle terrorist threats once and for all.
Questioning why KP continued to witness the highest number of attacks, he said terrorists had found a “conducive environment” in the province, adding: “A politically conducive environment is being provided for terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”
“We will win the war against terrorism through force. We must win this war against terrorism at all costs,” Lt. Gen. Sharif said, highlighting that there was no agreement between political leaders and the armed forces on the issue. “This is the war of the entire nation.”
Revisiting terrorism in 2025
The ISPR chief said the sole purpose of the press conference was to present a comprehensive review of terrorist activity during 2025, describing the year as historic and result-oriented in Pakistan’s counter-terrorism campaign.
In the past year, he said, an extraordinary number of IBOs have been carried out across the country, reflecting both the scale of the threat and the state’s determination to confront it. “In 2025, complete harmony has been achieved between the State of Pakistan and its people on the issue of terrorism.”
The military spokesperson emphasized that the terrorists had no connection with Pakistan or Balochistan. He said terrorism must be faced as a collective national challenge rather than viewed through political or provincial lenses.
“The war on terrorism is the entire nation’s war,” he continued, urging a focus on the measures being taken to counter the threat rather than political narratives.
Providing statistics, Lt. Gen. Sharif said that in 2025, law enforcement agencies conducted 75,175 IBOs across the country, an average of 206 operations each day. Of them, he added, 14,658 operations were carried out in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 58,778 in Balochistan and 1,739 in other parts of the country.
Despite these operations, Pakistan witnessed 5,397 terrorist incidents during the year. KP accounted for the highest number, with 3,811 incidents, followed by Balochistan with 1,557 incidents. Only 29 incidents were reported in the rest of the country. A total of 2,597 terrorists were killed during the year, Lt Gen Sharif said.
Afghanistan as a center of terrorism
Lt Gen Sharif said terrorism in Pakistan re-emerged after 2021, the year in which there was a change of power in Afghanistan following the Doha Agreement. He recalled that, under the Doha Agreement, the Afghan authorities had made three key commitments: Afghan soil would not be used for terrorism; Terrorism would be put to an end and women’s education would be guaranteed.
“The centers of Fitna al-Khawarij and Fitna-e-Hindustan are in Afghanistan,” he said, alleging that all major terrorist organizations targeting Pakistan were based there and were being fed. He said Pakistan’s counter-terrorism efforts over the last two decades were widely recognized by the international community. “This war on terrorism is the war of the entire nation.”
The NAP and religious clarity
The DG ISPR said there was consensus among all political parties on the National Action Plan (NAP) and its implementation was essential to defeat terrorism. Referring to Khawarij, he said Islamic injunctions were clear regarding those who wage war against the state and society.
“It is absolutely clear that we have to win this war against terrorism,” he said, stressing that no individual politician or personality was greater than Pakistan.
The main military spokesman harshly criticized the narrative of a “powerless state”, calling it absurd and misleading. He referred to a former prime minister who had publicly claimed he had no power, but who had declared the then army chief “father of the nation”. “We believe that the nation has only one father – Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah,” he said.
He questioned where the then DG Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was today, saying state institutions had been used for personal political interests at the time, with governance revolving around a single individual.
He clarified that the military had no problems with any political party and treated all political forces and provinces equally. “Today’s government is empowered, and previous governments were also empowered,” he said.
Lt Gen Sharif alleged that terrorism in Pakistan was sponsored by India and facilitated by Afghan Taliban elements. He said the Afghan Taliban had no role in the withdrawal of US and allied forces, but rather had prepared and supported the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) within its organizational structure to sustain a “war economy”.
He said the United States had left $7.2 billion worth of advanced weapons in Afghanistan, which had fallen into the hands of militant groups. “These elements are clearly identified as Khawarij,” he said, adding that despite this, calls were often made to negotiate with them whenever action was taken.
The DG ISPR said clashes had taken place on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border during ‘Marka-e-Haq’ and again in October. “India was exposed and taught a lesson in Marka-e-Haq,” he said, adding that after this, India further fueled terrorism within Pakistan.
Referring to what he called “Operation Sindoor”, he accused India of targeting women and children, saying the episode had left a lasting stain on India’s image. “No one has given India the right to attack Pakistani civilians or infrastructure,” he said.
He added that terrorists had been attacked along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and that Afghan Taliban forces had attacked Pakistani posts, prompting a firm response. For the past three months, the borders have been closed, he said, adding that “there are clear signs for those who understand.”
In October 2025, he said, dozens of Afghan outposts were destroyed in a matter of hours during operations against terrorists. Lt Gen Sharif said Pakistan possessed complete evidence on the identities of the terrorists and those harboring them. Analyzing 10 major terrorist incidents, he said all those involved were Afghan citizens.
He cited the attack on the Jaffar Express, in which 21 civilians were martyred, the attack on a civilian bus in Noshki and an attempted attack on APS Wana, which he said sought to replicate the APS Peshawar tragedy. “The Jaffar Express incident will never be forgotten,” he said.
He also referred to the attacks on the Frontier Corps headquarters in Quetta and Peshawar, which caused civilian casualties. “This is the nation’s war, every child’s war,” he said, rejecting the idea that it was just the army’s fight.
Rejecting claims that terrorists are freely crossing the border, DG ISPR said infiltrators were being neutralized. “In April, 71 terrorists were killed,” he said, adding that the militants crossed in organized formations and were eliminated wherever they were detected.
He dismissed allegations that Pakistan’s military used drones to attack civilians and said terrorists were using armed quadcopters, including launching attacks from mosques, with India as their main sponsor. He said the terrorists deliberately used women and children as human shields.
The army, he continued, attacked only terrorists and their facilitators, and quadcopters were used only in depopulated areas or for surveillance. “There is no collateral damage,” the chief military spokesman stated emphatically.
Lt Gen Sharif said the Peshawar corps commander frequently visited the affected areas and there was no division between the army and the people. Flood relief, infrastructure repair and road clearing operations were ongoing, he said.
“The clarity that the Pakistani nation has received this year has never existed before,” he stressed. He said clarity on Fitna al-Khawarij and Fitna-e-Hindustan existed in 2023 and remained strong in 2025. “No one can take us out of this narrative,” he said.
Religious scholars and elders, Lt Gen Sharif said, were also aligned under the message of “Paigham-e-Pakistan”. He criticized political narratives opposing counterterrorism operations and questioned what alternative was being proposed. “If military operations are not going to be carried out, what should be done?” asked. “Sit at Khawarij’s feet?”
He said illegal weapons, narcotics and smuggling had direct links to terrorism and highlighted measures taken to curb the illegal fuel trade that previously financed militant activity. Concluding the briefing, DG ISPR said Pakistan was constitutionally and legally obliged to protect its territory and citizens.
“For us, a terrorist has no color or nuance,” he said. “We have no sympathy for any terrorist. We are on the right path and the truth will prevail. We are proud to fight the war against terrorism.”
