ISLAMABAD: Nearly 400 Pakistani soldiers and over 900 militants have been killed in counter-terrorism operations this year, the Pakistan army said on Friday, as the South Asian nation battles a resurgence of militant violence.
Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces have seen a surge in terror attacks in recent months, with groups like the Pakistani Taliban and other militant and separatist groups attacking security forces’ convoys and check posts and carrying out daily targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcers and government officials.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said security forces have conducted 59,775 intelligence-based operations this year, during which 925 militants had been killed and hundreds of others arrested. 
“Over the last five years, this is the highest number of terrorists killed in a single year,” Chaudhry said at a media briefing, saying 73 of the militants killed were “high value targets.”
“During these counter-terrorism operations in year 2024, 383 brave officers and jawans embraced martyrdom.”
The Pakistani Taliban group, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has increased attacks against Pakistani security forces mainly in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, particularly since November 2022 when a fragile truce between the Pakistani Taliban and the state broke down.
The southwestern Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran and is home to key Chinese Belt and Road Initiative projects, has also seen a surge in strikes by separatist ethnic militants, who say they are fighting an unfair distribution of the remote, impoverished province’s mineral wealth. The Pakistani state denies the allegation and says it is working for the uplift of local communities.
The attacks in KP have soured Pakistan’s ties with Kabul, with Islamabad frequently accusing the Taliban administration of sheltering and supporting militant groups. Afghan officials deny state complicity, insisting Pakistan’s security issues are an internal matter.
On Wednesday, the Afghan Taliban said at least 46 people had been killed in Pakistani airstrikes in the eastern border province of Paktika. The Pakistan army and government have not officially confirmed the strikes. 
“Despite all of Pakistan’s efforts and repeatedly pointing out to the Afghan interim government on the state level, Fitna Al-Khwarij [TTP] and other terrorists have been carrying out terrorist activities in Pakistan using Afghanistan’s soil,” Chaudhry said.
“Pakistan will leave no stone unturned in dismantling terrorist networks and safeguarding its citizens against terrorism.”

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Logistics Corporation (NLC) and DP World, an Emirati multinational logistics company, are set to begin a shipping service between Karachi and Dubai next month, Pakistani state media reported this week.
Pakistan, which has been facing an economic crisis, wants to leverage its strategic geopolitical position and enhance trade with various countries in the region.
Pakistani policymakers consider the United Arab Emirates (UAE) an optimal export destination due to its geographical proximity, which minimizes transportation and freight costs while facilitating commercial transactions.
The shipping service between Karachi and Dubai’s Jebel Ali port is due to begin on Jan. 13, the state-run Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.
“This shipping service marks a significant milestone in strengthening trade and regional connectivity,” the report read. “It will also promote economic growth and prosperity and will further accelerate the pace of development in the region.”
The UAE is Pakistan’s third-largest trading partner after China and the United States (US), and a major source of foreign investment, valued at over $10 billion in the last 20 years, according to the UAE foreign ministry. It is also home to more than a million Pakistani expatriates.
In January this year, Pakistan and the UAE signed multiple agreements worth more than $3 billion for cooperation in railways, economic zones and infrastructure, a Pakistani official said, amid Pakistan ‘s caretaker prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar’s visit to Davos, Switzerland to attend 54th summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The agreements cover the development of a dedicated freight corridor, multi-modal logistics park, and freight terminals, Syed Mazhar Ali Shah, the Pakistan Railways secretary, said at the time.
Under the agreements, DP World would carry out infrastructure improvement at Qasim International Container Terminal, Pakistan’s leading trade gateway, as part of the project. The Emirati firm also planned to develop an economic zone near the terminal.