ISLAMABAD: Defence analysts on Friday described Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry’s detailed press conference in Peshawar as a clear and decisive message to all actors — internal and external — challenging Pakistan’s sovereignty or undermining its counterterrorism resolve.
Defence analyst Syed Muhammad Ali said the timing and location of the DG ISPR’s presser carried “strategic significance”, noting that it was a message for India, Afghanistan, and domestic political elements seen as “soft on terrorism”.
“The essence of today’s presser is simple — this status quo will not continue,” he said. “It is directed at Kabul, where authorities have been turning a blind eye to terrorist safe havens while pursuing closer cooperation with India, even as attacks on Pakistan from Afghan soil continue.”
Ali said the press conference, following the Corps Commanders’ Conference and a federal cabinet meeting earlier this week, indicated that “the state, government, and army have decided to act decisively against both internal and external threats”.
He added that the DG ISPR’s statement reaffirmed the military’s resolve to fully implement the National Action Plan (NAP), while expressing frustration that “poor governance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is being paid for in the blood of security personnel.”
Ali said the DG ISPR had clearly outlined five key challenges, noting that while Pakistan’s forces had demonstrated their capabilities through operations such as Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos, intelligence-based operations alone were insufficient.
“The political government in KP has been reluctant to act and, in some cases, has facilitated terrorists. A political–criminal nexus is obstructing the timely and decisive implementation of the NAP,” he said.
He added that weak judicial performance was also a major obstacle, as thousands of terrorism-related cases remain pending without verdicts.
Commenting on reports of the killing of outlawed TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud in an airstrike inside Afghanistan, Ali said neither the Afghan authorities nor Pakistan’s Foreign Office had confirmed or denied the incident.
“The DG ISPR also didn’t deny it, which makes it likely that Pakistan’s message was deliberate — that national security will be safeguarded by any means necessary,” he said.
‘Crime-terror nexus must be dismantled’
Another defence expert, Brigadier (retd) Rashid Wali, said the DG ISPR’s emphasis on eradicating the crime–terror nexus was one of the most significant takeaways from the press conference.
“The NAP’s points were reduced from 20 to 14, but even those have not been implemented,” he said, noting that the failure to act against non-custom-paid vehicles and smuggling networks continues to fuel the financing of terrorism.
He said thousands of such vehicles and criminal networks support a wider “terror–crime ecosystem”, often connected to external elements.
“You cannot fight terrorism when the same system continues to fund and facilitate militants,” he said.
Brig Wali also pointed out that terrorists were using Afghanistan as a launchpad for attacks inside Pakistan due to the shortcomings of the KP government.
He stressed the need for provincial institutions and law enforcement agencies to create the political and administrative environment necessary for the Pakistan Army to combat extremism effectively.
