Failure to enforce National Action Plan is enabling surge in terrorism: DG ISPR

Failure to enforce the National Action Plan agreed upon by all political parties is causing a surge in terrorism, said ISPR Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, addressing a press conference in Peshawar on the security situation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Friday.

The K-P has been on the frontlines of Pakistan’s counterterrorism campaign for the past two decades, said DG ISPR. When the frequency of terrorist incidents increased again in 2021, security forces gave a “firm and effective” responsive, he said. More Khwarij have been killed in the recent past than in the last nine years combined, added Lt Gen Chaudhry.

Fitna al-Khwarij is a term the state coined for terrorists affiliated with proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) after the war with India in May this year.

He began the press conference, which was streamed live on YouTube, by paying tribute to the “brave and resilient people” of K-P, and acknowledged their sacrifices alongside the armed forces in the fight against terrorism.

Surge in terrorism linked to governance failures

DG ISPR blamed weak governance and the neglect of the National Action Plan (NAP) for the surge in terrorism, particularly in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), where “around 70 per cent of the country’s terrorist acts take place.” He noted Pakistan, and K-P in particular, has faced terrorism for the past two decades.

He revisited the revised 2021 NAP points, highlighting intolerance for militancy, action against terrorism in media and cyberspace, curbing terror financing, follow-up of Counter Terrorism (CT) cases in courts, capacity building for CTDs, regulation of seminaries, and reforms in the criminal justice system.

Formulated after the Army Public School attack with consensus from all political parties, he revisited its 14 points. ‘All parties agreed on this—you agreed on this. But is it being implemented?’ he asked.

He recalled that in 2021, the then-government “removed certain provisions from the plan—despite progress in those areas—and introduced a revised version.” All parties recommitted to enforcing the plan, “yet the implementation remains absent.”

Without naming any party, he attributed the worsening security situation in K-P to internal lapses. “The provincial government has fallen into the terror-crime nexus,” he said, referring to illegal activities such as narcotics trade and non-custom-paid vehicles that “allowed lawlessness to flourish and terrorism to breed.”

“When the suggestion was made to seal the Pak-Afghan border, there were people in power who opposed it—only to keep their criminal activities going,” he added. “Terrorism exists today because we are not following the National Action Plan.”

Terrorism in K-P

DG ISPR said terrorism’s roots lay not just across the border but within Pakistan’s governance failures. “Why is 70 per cent of all terrorist activity in K-P and Balochistan, and not in the other two provinces? The answer is good governance,” he said.

He accused the K-P government of politicising counterterrorism and weakening the state’s resolve by seeking negotiations with militants. “Calling for talks with non-state actors is a failure of governance,” he remarked.

He shared operational data during the confernece that in 2024, 14,535 intelligence-based operations (IBOs) in K-P killed 769 terrorists—including 58 Afghan nationals—while 272 army and FC personnel, 140 policemen, and 165 civilians were martyred.

Read: 17 terrorists killed in Lakki IBO, says ISPR

In 2025, until September 15, 10,115 operations killed 970 terrorists and martyred 311 army personnel. Nationwide, 57,320 IBOs were conducted in 2025, with 2,809 of 3,984 terrorist incidents (70.5%) occurring in K-P, and 917 of 1,422 terrorists killed nationwide eliminated in K-P.

“The main battleground remains Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan,” he said.

Afghan Strikes

Two powerful explosions shook central Kabul on Thursday evening, AFP reported. The first occurred around 9:50pm local time (1720 GMT), followed by a second a few minutes later. “The incident is under investigation, but no casualties have been reported yet and everything is fine,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on X.

When asked about reports blaming Pakistan, DG ISPR avoided direct confirmation. “Afghanistan is a neighbouring, Islamic country. We have historical and cultural connections. Pakistan has hosted Afghan refugees for four decades. We only say one thing to the Afghan government: do not allow your soil to be used for terrorism against Pakistan,” he said.

“Afghanistan is being used as a base for carrying out terrorism in Pakistan. There is evidence of this. All necessary steps for protecting people’s lives and property are being taken—and will continue.”

Talks with Afghanistan and Militant Presence

A day earlier, Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi arrived in India for a two-day visit, part of the Taliban government’s push for international recognition—currently extended only by Russia.

Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar urged the Taliban to take “decisive and verifiable steps” against the banned TTP and BLA, citing a surge in attacks inside Pakistan “perpetrated by groups operating from Afghan soil” and calling on Kabul to act against “entities such as TTP and BLA/Majeed Brigade.”

“The Afghan acting foreign minister reaffirmed Afghanistan’s commitment to ensuring its territory is not used by any terrorist group against Pakistan or other nations,” the Foreign Office said.

DG ISPR held Afghanistan partly responsible for allowing “non-state actors” to operate from its soil, including Indian-backed Khawarij. “We still conduct trade with Afghanistan. We share historical, cultural, and religious ties. But we cannot allow them to house people who harm Pakistan. All alphas of non-state actors are there,” he said.

He emphasised Pakistan must tackle terrorism independently. “We cannot rely on external entities to solve the matter of internal terrorism. We continue to engage Afghanistan on multiple levels, but don’t beg them for security. Appeasement of terrorists and their facilitators is never a policy.”

Lt Gen Chaudhry highlighted the continued presence of Fitna al-Khawarij in Afghanistan by displaying visuals. Senior TTP leader Omar Khorasani was recently killed there, while key figures remain active, including Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, Ikram Ullah Mehsud, and Hidayat Ullah.

Most individuals engaged in terrorist activity against Pakistan are Afghan nationals, he said, yet repatriation is often politically discouraged. He flagged abandoned US weapons in Afghanistan worth $7.2 billion, now used by terrorist in Pakistan.

“We have engaged Afghanistan through different forums and verticals, yet it has not come to full fruition. We must combat it ourselves,” he said.

Read More: Pakistan to attend Moscow Format talks on Afghanistan

Pakistan’s Special Representative on Afghanistan, Ambassador Muhammad Sadiq, confirmed that Afghan nationals now constitute a sharply rising portion of the TTP—up from 5–10 percent in previous years.

UN reports support Pakistan’s concerns, noting that the TTP continues “to receive substantial logistical and operational support” from the Afghan Taliban and maintains access to a range of weapons, enhancing the lethality of attacks. The group is estimated at 6,000 fighters, roughly equivalent to an army brigade.

Judicial System Concerns

DG ISPR raised serious concerns over the judicial system’s failure to support counter-terrorism efforts. While security forces conducted thousands of operations and eliminated 917 terrorists in K-P this year alone, the courts recorded "zero convictions" in Counter-Terrorism cases.

With 4,683 CT cases pending, he warned that the absence of a “robust and strong judicial system” capable of countering “false narratives” undermines the National Action Plan and fuels the resurgence of militancy.

Addressing reporters, he said, “False narratives continue to spread while the judiciary is unable to address them. Status quo will not be tolerated.”

He criticised the politicisation of counter-terrorism and deviation from the NAP, which requires a unified approach across all state institutions and accused the current K-P government of indirectly supporting militants by allowing illegal activities to flourish.

“The vacuum of your bad governance is being filled by the blood of the martyred,” he said, underscoring the urgency for decisive action.