Haseeb Khan:Â
ISLAMABAD: Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry on Friday said attempts were being made to create an impression that the security situation in Balochistan was rapidly deteriorating, while outlining the scale of ongoing counter-terrorism operations across the country.
Addressing a press conference on the country’s security environment, particularly the situation in Balochistan, the military spokesperson presented figures on intelligence-based operations, terrorist casualties and losses suffered by security personnel and civilians during 2026.
According to the DG ISPR, security agencies had carried out 40,348 intelligence-based operations across Pakistan so far this year. These operations involved the armed forces, police, civil armed forces and intelligence agencies.
He said Balochistan accounted for the largest share of these operations, with the number of such activities in the province crossing 31,000.
The military spokesperson said Pakistan had recorded 3,145 terrorism-related incidents in 2026 to date. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa accounted for 1,971 incidents, while 1,148 were reported in Balochistan and 26 in other parts of the country.
He said security forces had killed 2,084 individuals identified as terrorists during the year, describing the figure as an average of around 10 terrorist fatalities per day. At the same time, security agencies were conducting close to 200 intelligence-based operations every day, he added.
Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif said terrorism had also resulted in significant losses among Pakistanis. A total of 819 people had been killed in terrorist attacks, including 303 military personnel, 194 members of the police and civil armed forces, and 322 civilians.
He further said 28 suicide attacks had been recorded during the year so far. According to the military spokesperson, most of these attacks involved Afghan nationals and individuals he linked to Afghan security structures.
Comparing the figures with the previous year, the DG ISPR said 2,597 terrorists were killed in 2025, compared with 2,084 during 2026 so far. With several months still remaining in the year, he said the figures reflected the continuing pace of counter-terrorism operations.
The military spokesperson also highlighted a change in the ratio between security personnel killed and terrorists eliminated during operations. He said the trend had begun to shift in 2024, while in 2025 security forces were eliminating at least two terrorists for every Pakistani security personnel member killed. During the current year, he put the ratio at approximately 2.5 terrorists for every martyr.
Addressing the apparent increase in terrorism incidents despite the intensity of security operations, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif argued that terrorist groups could be shifting greater resources towards attacks inside Pakistan as other elements of their strategy became less effective.
He also attributed the continued threat to what he described as the policies and support provided by the Afghan Taliban authorities to militant elements.
The DG ISPR said the state had made its position clear that armed groups would not be given room for negotiation or appeasement while they continued to challenge Pakistan’s sovereignty and constitutional order.
