Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry launched a searing attack on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government, demanding it cease “begging Afghanistan for security” and instead focus on protecting its own citizens. Speaking at the Peshawar Corps Headquarters, the DG ISPR asserted that governance gaps in KP were being paid for by the blood of security personnel and innocent civilians. He presented chilling data: over 1,700 terrorists were killed in KP since 2024, but 583 personnel from the military and police were martyred, alongside 165 civilians. The DG ISPR declared that the appeasement of terrorists is unequivocally not the state’s policy, affirming that the nation would not be swayed by “any political distortions” or left to the “whims of any single person” singularly responsible for the resurgence of terrorism in the province.
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The military spokesperson forcefully argued that the re-emergence of militancy stemmed from a failure to fully implement the National Action Plan (NAP), the politicisation of terrorism, India’s use of Afghanistan as a base, and a rampant terror-crime nexus with local political backing. He specifically questioned the former provincial leadership’s removal of key provisions from the NAP in 2021, and pointed to the judicial system’s failure, citing zero convictions in 34 pending anti-terrorism court cases in KP. Furthermore, he highlighted the use of modern US weapons left in Afghanistan by terrorists operating in Pakistan. The DG ISPR stressed that the only way forward is through clear, unified work on all 14 points of the NAP, rejecting the “perverted and criminal thinking” that advocates for dialogue with those who have committed heinous crimes against the people.
