What happened
Pakistan’s military said on Friday that security forces had conducted 40,348 intelligence-based operations (IBOs) across the country so far in 2026, killing 2,084 terrorists while 819 security personnel were martyred, as the director general of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) tied the country’s security to better governance.
Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry gave the figures at a press conference in Rawalpindi focused mainly on the security situation in Balochistan and the wider counterterrorism campaign. He said the operations amounted to roughly ten terrorists killed every day, against about four security personnel martyred daily.
Delivering one of the strongest statements of the briefing, the ISPR chief said the era of appeasing terrorist facilitators and vested interests was over. “Terrorists will have to surrender their weapons, otherwise we will eliminate them,” he said, according to Khyber Chronicles.
Governance and security
General Chaudhry said good governance was “extremely important” for Pakistan’s security, adding that the country’s challenges could not be resolved without it. His remarks came after Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said Pakistan’s existing governance system had collapsed and called for administrative reforms, including the creation of new administrative units.
The ISPR director general said the Constitution placed clear responsibilities on every citizen, foremost among them loyalty to the state and adherence to the Constitution. He also pushed back on the idea of a “hard state,” saying Pakistan was not one unless the Constitution and the law were equal for every citizen. “It does not mean the military is running the state,” he said.
He said defeating terrorism required national unity, loyalty to the state and continued cooperation between security institutions and the public.
Why it matters
Pakistan has reported a sustained tempo of counterterrorism operations through 2026, concentrated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, where militant attacks have repeatedly targeted security forces and civilians. The figures cover operations nationwide and reflect the human cost on both sides.
The focus on governance also places the military’s assessment alongside a widening public debate about the state’s capacity, as the government weighs fiscal and administrative reforms. Officials have argued that security gains depend on governance and development in the worst-affected districts.
Related: DG ISPR's January 2026 year-end counter-terrorism briefing.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a summary of published reporting, not independent reporting. Details are as carried by the cited sources, which were reviewed on 31 July 2026.
- Khyber Chronicles — "Pakistan Reaffirms Zero Tolerance for Terrorists, Rules Out Any Talks"31 July 2026 · The IBO and casualty figures, the surrender-or-be-eliminated statement and the constitutional duties cited by the DG ISPR.
- DNA News Agency — "Military says good governance 'extremely important' for Pak"31 July 2026 · The good-governance remarks, the reference to Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and the "hard state" comments.
