Pakistan’s security forces conducted 5,143 intelligence-based operations across the country during the first nine months of 2026, eliminating 2,410 terrorists, injuring 806 and apprehending another 3,518, the Ministry of Interior informed the National Assembly on Wednesday.
The figures were presented in the National Assembly as part of a comprehensive briefing on the government’s counterterrorism efforts, implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP), measures to curb online extremism and actions taken against fraudulent acquisition of Pakistani identity documents.
According to the Interior Ministry, the operations reflect the continued efforts of security institutions to dismantle terrorist networks, disrupt their support structures and strengthen the country’s internal security framework.
The ministry informed the House that the National Action Plan, initially introduced in 2014 and subsequently reviewed in 2021, remains the country’s principal counterterrorism framework. The revised plan comprises 14 strategic points and 245 key measures aimed at addressing terrorism and extremism through coordinated national efforts.
However, the ministry acknowledged that tackling extremist and anti-state content on digital platforms remains a significant challenge, requiring stronger regulatory oversight and improved cooperation from social media companies.
The existing legal framework for addressing online extremism includes the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), under which the Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority has been established. The ministry also informed lawmakers that action had been initiated against individuals involved in disseminating anti-state propaganda and extremist material.
Despite these measures, social media platforms have demonstrated varying levels of compliance with requests from Pakistani authorities to remove objectionable content. The ministry disclosed that platforms complied with only 23.7 per cent of content-removal requests submitted by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), while the compliance rate for requests made by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) stood at 47 per cent.
Platform-specific figures revealed that X removed only 7.4 per cent of the content identified by state institutions, while YouTube’s compliance rate stood at 1.9 per cent. Facebook demonstrated a comparatively higher compliance rate of 38 per cent.
The ministry further stated that social media companies had yet to adopt the government’s regulatory framework, leaving significant gaps in the effective monitoring and removal of extremist content.
Provincial statistics highlighted considerable disparities in reporting and compliance. Punjab accounted for 97.7 per cent of requests concerning online extremist content, with the provincial CTD submitting the overwhelming majority. Meanwhile, Sindh and Balochistan recorded zero compliance despite requests submitted by their respective authorities.
The Interior Ministry also disclosed that the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) had sought more than Rs2.98 billion for the current fiscal year; however, the government allocated Rs1.3326 billion. The government is also considering upgrading NACTA to the status of a federal division to strengthen institutional coordination and enhance the effectiveness of counterterrorism efforts nationwide.
In a separate disclosure, the ministry informed the National Assembly that 326,341 Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) had been cancelled over the past five years, including 255,139 cancellations recorded in 2026 alone.
The ministry provided a breakdown of the cancellations, stating that 624 CNICs were cancelled in 2025, approximately 8,500 in 2024, 117 in 2023 and 62 in 2022. It explained that the cancellations involved Afghan nationals who had fraudulently obtained Pakistani identity documents through forgery and misrepresentation. The cards were cancelled after the relevant cases were identified and processed.
The disclosures underscore the scale of Pakistan’s ongoing counterterrorism efforts, while highlighting the need for stronger inter-agency coordination, adequate institutional resources and effective regulation of digital platforms to address emerging security threats.
The government remains focused on strengthening national security, dismantling terrorist networks, preventing the misuse of Pakistani identity documents and improving the country’s institutional capacity to counter terrorism and extremism.
