Media attention on Pakistan owing to its hosting of the US-Iran peace talks notwithstanding, a report said that the country’s military is “shockingly losing to militants it once nurtured,” after India’s western neighbour topped the Global Terrorism Index 2026.Released on March 30, the index placed Pakistan at the top of the list of countries most affected by terrorism, marking the first time it has ranked first.“While Asim Munir’s army was busy projecting power and hogging the global spotlight — mediating between the US and Iran, dispatching fighter jets and troops to Riyadh — it was ‘shockingly losing ground at home’ to the very militant groups it once nurtured,” a EurAsian Times report said, referring to Pakistan’s powerful army chief and now Field Marshal.According to the report, since the outbreak of the US-Iran conflict in late February, terror attacks within Pakistan have not only continued but also intensified in several regions, especially those bordering Afghanistan.The restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces accounted for a staggering 74% of these attacks and 67% of the fatalities, it stated, adding that the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) have “wreaked havoc” on the Pakistani military and have, in fact, grown bolder, “more sophisticated, and more lethal.”The report noted that earlier this year, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) carried out one of its most coordinated attacks in years, launching strikes across at least nine districts in Balochistan, including the capital Quetta and the port city of Gwadar. The attacks reportedly targeted police stations, banks, markets and security installations, killing dozens of civilians and security personnel.It also mentioned a major suicide bombing outside a Shia mosque in Islamabad, which killed at least 31 worshippers. The attack, one of the deadliest in the capital in recent years, was widely attributed to Islamic State – Khorasan.In a rare incident, Baloch insurgents also ambushed a Coast Guard patrol near Gwadar, killing three officials. This marked the first recorded incident of the BLA attacking a Pakistani maritime vessel.There have already been five attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan between May 7 and 15.“Field Marshal Asim Munir’s forces are struggling to secure their own cantonments and border regions despite projecting strength abroad — be it in Riyadh or in brokering talks in Islamabad,” the report stated.Pakistan signed a joint strategic defence pact with Saudi Arabia in September last year. Under the agreement, an attack on one is considered an attack on the other. Under the agreement, Islamabad last month deployed a military contingent comprising around 13,000 soldiers and 10 to 18 jets to Saudi Arabia, which is among the Gulf states attacked by Iran in retaliation to the US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic that triggered the current Middle East conflict.(With agency inputs)
