On 10th October 2025, the Director General of ISPR, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry chaired a press briefing in Peshawar. This conference came into effect shortly after a recent leadership influx was seen when CM Ali Amin Gandapuri resigned on the directives of former PM Imran Khan, and various cross border incidents happened over the past year.
The Press was held in Peshawar Corps Headquarters, where the KP provincial government was criticised for politicising CT policy, opposing operations and failing to implement NAP components. Besides this the DG ISPR confirmed a court-martial that was underway in order to hold internal accountability of interior provincial government actions.
While the Lieutenant General summoned the provincial government and asked it to protect its own people rather than “begging Afghanistan” for security, he also stressed upon the fragile government situation due to the losses in security personnel, civilians and the state of being left vulnerable.
In addition to this, the press conference accused a political criminal nexus of backing terrorists in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, that not only provided them with shelter but aided their tactical support. While the discussions carried out, DG ISPR claimed that terrorists persist because the full national action plan was never fully enforced.
Various statistics and operations were also disclosed during this briefing as DG Ahmed Sharif disclosed that about 10,115 intelligence based operations had been conducted in KP alone, killing about 970 terrorists just as of September 15th. While for 2024, he told how 14,535 operations carried out in the province resulted in 769 terrorist killings along with various civilian and security forces casualties.
In summary the Director General criticised how political provincial leadership was weakening governance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and favoured terrorist activities due to various inconveniences. He also questions the police strength defining it as inadequate for a province completely rugged and mountainous where various areas are disconnected.
Eventually, after the press conference, critics have analysed how ISPR is pushing back on narratives of national security and that of provincial matters. Analysts think that the establishment emphasises on the fact that “politics is not above the state” and this could signal how frustrated the military leadership is with the politicisation of counter-terrorism.
