Pakistan’s war on terror deserves world support

July 2, 2026

When a country strikes back against those who kill its soldiers and citizens, it is not aggression. It is survival. Pakistan’s Operation Ghazab Lil Haq, carried out on the night of June 28 and 29, was exactly that. A targeted, measured and lawful response to a threat that has been bleeding Pakistan for years.

The operation destroyed militant camps in Afghanistan’s Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces. Twenty nine terrorists were killed. Weapons depots were blown up. Safe havens that had been used to plan and launch attacks inside Pakistan were reduced to rubble. Pakistan did what any responsible state would do when its people are under attack and when repeated appeals for action by the other side have gone unheard.

Yet India chose this moment to criticise Pakistan. The same India that has consistently been accused of sponsoring and funding militant networks operating from Afghan soil against Pakistan. The same India that lectures the world about terrorism while allegedly nurturing it in its neighbourhood. Pakistan’s Foreign Office was right to call India’s statement baseless. It was not just baseless. It was shameless.

Let us not forget what triggered this operation. A Rangers camp in Karachi’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar was attacked by militants. Three young Rangers officials were martyred. Four others were wounded. One of the attackers arrested was identified as an Afghan national. This was not an isolated incident. Attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Karachi have been mounting with terrifying regularity. Behind many of them lies the same trail, leading back across the border to groups operating freely from Afghan territory.

Pakistan has knocked on every door. It has urged Kabul repeatedly to dismantle militant infrastructure. It has called for counterterrorism cooperation. It has appealed to the international community to pressure those who provide these groups with shelter and support. The response has been largely inadequate. And so Pakistan acted, as it had every right to do under international law and the principle of self-defence.

The world must now ask itself a serious question. How long can one nation be expected to absorb blow after blow before it defends itself? How many soldiers must be buried before the international community acknowledges that Pakistan is fighting a war that the entire world should be fighting alongside it?

Terrorism rooted in Afghan soil is not Pakistan’s problem alone. It is a regional problem and a global one. The international community must stop looking the other way and must hold accountable those who allow their territory to be used as a launching pad for violence.

Pakistan has made its position clear. It will protect its people. It will strike where the threat originates. And it will not apologise for doing so. What the world owes Pakistan is not criticism. It is solidarity, support and a genuine collective will to eliminate the scourge of terrorism once and for all.