Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry
ISLAMABAD:
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said on Tuesday that terrorists had found a “congenial environment” in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which he linked to the province recording the highest number of attacks over the past year.
Addressing a wide media briefing at the headquarters in Rawalpindi, the top military spokesman said the state’s stance on eliminating terrorism was unequivocal and asserted that the menace would be decisively defeated through the use of force and without compromise.
He rejected narratives portraying Pakistan as a “powerless state”, blamed foreign-sponsored terror networks operating from Afghan soil and outlined what he described as unprecedented intelligence-based operations as the state moves to dismantle terror threats once and for all.
Questioning why KP continued to witness the highest number of attacks, he said terrorists had found an “enabling environment” in the province, adding, “A political enabling environment is being provided for terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”
“We will win the war against terrorism by force. We must win this war against terrorism at any cost,” Lt Gen Sharif said, stressing that there was no daylight between the political leadership and the armed forces on the issue. “This is the entire nation’s war.”
Review of 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 were carried out across the country, reflecting both the scale of the threat and the state’s determination to confront it. “By 2025, complete harmony was achieved between the state of Pakistan and its people on the issue of terrorism.”
The military spokesman stressed that terrorists had no connection whatsoever with Pakistan or Balochistan. He said terrorism must be confronted 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, calling for a focus on the steps being taken to address the threat rather than political narratives.
Providing statistics, Lt Gen Sharif said that by 2025, law enforcement agencies conducted 75,175 IBOs nationwide – an average of 206 operations every day. Of these, he added, 14,658 operations were conducted 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 from the rest of the country. A total of 2,597 terrorists were killed during the year, Lt Gen Sharif said.
Afghanistan as a terrorist hub
Lt Gen Sharif said that terrorism in Pakistan resurged after 2021, the year there was a change of power in Afghanistan after 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 ended and women’s education would be ensured.
“The hubs of Fitna al-Khawarij and Fitna-e-Hindustan are in Afghanistan,” he said, claiming that all major terrorist organizations targeting Pakistan were based there and nurtured. He said Pakistan’s fight against terrorism over the past two decades has been widely recognized by the international community. “This war on terrorism is the entire nation’s war.”
NAP and religious clarity
DG ISPR said there was consensus among all political parties on the National Action Plan (NAP) and its implementation was essential to fight terrorism. Referring to Khawarij, he said Islamic injunctions were clear regarding those waging war against the state and society.
“It is absolutely clear that we have to win this war against terrorism,” he said, stressing that no person’s politics and no personality was bigger than Pakistan.
The top military spokesman strongly criticized the narrative of a “powerless state”, calling it absurd and misleading. He was referring to a former prime minister who had publicly claimed to be powerless, yet had declared the then army chief the “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 that the state institutions had been used for personal political interests at the time when governance revolved around a single individual.
He clarified that the military had no problem 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 had instead prepared and supported the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) within their organizational structure to maintain 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 to negotiate with them were often made when action was taken.
DG ISPR said clashes had taken place on the Pak-Afghan border during ‘Marka-e-Haq’ and again in October. “India was exposed and learned a lesson in Marka-e-Haq,” he said, adding that after this, India further fueled terrorism inside Pakistan.
Referring to what he called “Operation Sindoor”, he accused India of targeting women and children and said 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 Pak-Afghan border and that Afghan Taliban forces had attacked Pakistani positions, prompting a firm response. Over 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 positions were destroyed within hours during operations against terrorists. Lt Gen Sharif said Pakistan was in possession of complete evidence regarding the identity of the terrorists and those harboring them. Looking at 10 major terrorist incidents, he said all those involved were Afghan nationals.
He cited the Jaffar Express attack in which 21 civilians were martyred, the attack on a civilian bus in Noshki and an attempted attack on APS Wana, which he said was trying to replicate the APS Peshawar tragedy. “The Jaffar Express incident will never be forgotten,” he said.
He also referred to attacks on Frontier Corps headquarters in Quetta and Peshawar which resulted in civilian casualties. “This is the nation’s war – every child’s war,” he said, rejecting the notion that it was just the army’s fight.
Rejecting claims that terrorists are freely crossing the border, DG ISPR said that infiltrators were neutralized. “In April, 71 terrorists were killed,” he said, adding that militants crossed in organized formations and were eliminated wherever they were detected.
He dismissed claims that the Pakistani army was using drones to target civilians, saying terrorists were instead using armed quadcopters, even launching attacks from mosques, with India as their primary patron. He said terrorists deliberately used women and children as human shields.
The army, he said, only targeted terrorists and their facilitators, and quadcopters were only used in unpopulated areas or for surveillance. “There is no collateral damage,” the top military spokesman said emphatically.
Lt Gen Sharif said the Peshawar Corps Commander frequently visited affected areas and there was no divide between the army and the people. Flood relief, infrastructure repair and road clearing were underway, he said.
“The clarity the Pakistani nation has received this year was never there before,” he stressed. He said that the clarity regarding Fitna al-Khawarij and Fitna-e-Hindustan had existed in 2023 and remained firm in 2025. “No one can shake us from this narrative,” he said.
Religious scholars and elders, Lt Sharif said, were also aligned under the message of “Paigham-e-Pakistan”. He criticized political narratives that opposed counter-terrorism operations and questioned what alternative was being proposed. “If military operations are not to be carried out, what is to be done?” he asked. “Sit at the feet of Khawarij?”
He said illegal arms, drugs and smuggling had direct links with terrorism and noted steps taken to curb illicit fuel trade, which previously funded militant activity. Concluding the briefing, DG ISPR said that Pakistan was constitutionally and legally bound to protect its territory and its 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 on terrorism.”
