Asim Munir’s dilemma
The South Asia Terrorism Portal mentions that in 2025 Pakistan suffered 1,077 terrorist-related incidents losing the lives of 655 civilians and 1,229 security personnel. This year it has faced 1050 incidents and lost 662 civilians and 1,021 security personnel. In 2024 it had 790 terrorist incidents. The way Pakistan’s challenges are mounting, the next three months will see the annual tally of incidents and lives lost go well past previous years. The two major regions where terrorist activities are on the rise are Khyb er Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Baluchistan.
There are many parts of these regions where the Pakistan army fears to tread or only moves in large numbers. Pakistan’s DGISPR, their military spokesperson, regularly holds press conferences and releases statements on attacks. What emerges from his long ramblings are a joke. The number of militants killed is announced with glee while all failures and major losses are blamed on India and Afghanistan, with no evidence. Not a single country including Pakistan’s close partners, China and Turkey, has joined Islamabad in its criticism of India and Afghanistan. The Pakistan army’s intent is to cover up failures.
If numbers given by their DGISPR on terrorists killed are to be believed, Pakistan has eliminated thousands of Baloch and TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban) fighters in KP, not counting countless other bodies found after people were eliminated in extra-judicial operations. Many more remain untraceable. Peaceful protestors seeking answers to random killings and arrests are thrown into jail. Criticism of its actions in international forums including at UN HQs at Geneva and New York have left Pakistan embarrassed. The DGISPR claims of success in Baluchistan are in contrast to what their army chief Asim Munir mentioned in an address to overseas Pakistanis: “Do Pakistan’s enemies think that a handful of terrorists can decide the fate of Pakistan?…
You think these 1,500 terrorists belonging to BLA, BLF, and BRA, etc., can take away Baluchistan from us? We will beat the hell out of these........
