Field Marshal Munir vows to 'hit hard' Indian-sponsored terrorists

Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir has said the armed forces will continue their campaign against “Indian-sponsored terrorist outfits” to the fullest and “hit them hard wherever they are”, the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said on Friday.

He made the remarks during a visit to Peshawar Corps Headquarters, where he was received by the Peshawar Corps commander, according to Dawn and The Express Tribune.

What the ISPR said

The ISPR said the field marshal was briefed on the prevailing security situation, ongoing counterterrorism operations, border management measures and the operational preparedness of the formations deployed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

He praised the “high morale and professionalism” of officers and troops and directed them to keep up their vigilance and the highest standards of operational readiness “to effectively counter threats”, the statement said.

Paying tribute to the sacrifices of the people of Pakistan, including the martyrs and veterans of the security forces, he said that “with the support of the people, Pakistan will surely inflict total defeat on the terrorists and their perverted ideology”. “Indian-sponsored” is the ISPR’s description of the groups, and it is attributed to the military in this report.

After the apex committee

The visit came a day after the field marshal attended a meeting of the federal apex committee on the National Action Plan in Peshawar, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. It was the prime minister’s first visit to the province since the governor’s rule and the emergency imposed on October 11. Governor Faisal Karim Kundi and federal ministers also attended.

At that meeting the prime minister defended the emergency and governor’s rule, saying the measures had been necessitated by the worsening security situation, and promised to restore peace, prosperity and development. The federal government, which now runs the province under governor’s rule, would make every effort possible to “bring back” progress to KP, he said. He thanked coalition partners for backing the move, in particular President Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, and blamed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for the resurgence of terrorism. Read our report on the prime minister’s visit to Peshawar.

The security picture

Security assessments presented to the federal cabinet showed that terrorist incidents in KP rose by 195 per cent between March 2024 and September 2026, with police and security personnel bearing the brunt of the attacks, The Express Tribune reported.

A recent report by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), cited by Dawn, found that Pakistan recorded an 83 per cent increase in violence-linked fatalities in the third quarter of 2026, reversing a decline seen in the first two quarters. Balochistan and KP were the centres of the violence, accounting between them for 98 per cent of all deaths: Balochistan recorded 829 deaths, nearly 59 per cent of the national total, and KP 556, more than 39 per cent.

Recent incidents include:

• Thursday: four policemen, including a Counter-Terrorism Department deputy superintendent of police, were martyred and two terrorists were killed in an exchange of fire in Karak, KP. In a separate incident in Bannu, two civilians were injured in a remote-controlled bomb blast.
• This week: forces foiled an attack on a camp in Gwadar, Balochistan. Read our report on the Gwadar attack and the Karak police deaths.
• October 19: an army major was martyred and four terrorists were killed in intelligence-based operations in Balochistan.
• October 18: security forces killed eight “India-sponsored” terrorists in operations in Quetta, Nushki and Khuzdar districts of Balochistan, according to Dawn.

Why it matters

The statement is a public signal that the military leadership will keep pressing the counterterrorism campaign in both KP and Balochistan after a sharp rise in deaths. It also lines up the military’s message with the government’s decision to run KP directly under governor’s rule. How the campaign is judged will depend on whether the numbers in the next quarterly security reports fall, and whether the border management measures the field marshal was briefed on reduce attacks in the province.

This article draws on reporting by Dawn, The Express Tribune and Geo News.