Terrorists from Fitna-al-Khawarij and Fitna-al-Hindustan were targeted in the operations, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

The state uses the term Fitna al-Khawarij for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and refers to designated Balochistan-based groups as Fitna al-Hindustan to highlight India’s role in terrorism and destabilisation across Pakistan.

Detailing the operations, the ISPR said that on Sept 24, as part of the ongoing Operation Shaban, security forces “busted additional terrorist hideouts, and after an intense fire exchange, five “India-sponsored terrorists” were killed.

This took the tally of killed terrorist to 22, it added.

“Weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from khawarij locations. The clearance operation will continue till the complete neutralisation of threat from the area,” the statement said.

In another engagement on Sept 25, security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation in the Nushki district.

“During the conduct of [the] operation, own troops effectively engaged [the] terrorists’ hideout and after an intense fire exchange, 11 terrorists were sent to hell,” the ISPR stated.

“[The] relentless counter-terrorism campaign under the vision ‘Azm-i-Istehkam’ (as approved by [the] Federal Apex Committee on National Action Plan) by security forces and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan will continue at full pace to wipe out [the] menace of foreign-sponsored and -supported terrorism from the country,” the military’s media wing added.

Balochistan has witnessed an increase in terrorist attacks in recent weeks, prompting security forces to intensify counter-terrorism operations.

The number of terrorist attacks in the province increased by seven per cent from 83 in July to 89 in August, according to a monthly assessment by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.

A day prior, security for­ces killed 19 terrorists in separate intelligence-ba­s­ed operations in Sha­ban, Kech and Quetta West during which a soldier was also martyred.

In a statement, the ISPR said inte­lligence agencies had reported the presence of multiple hideouts of Indian-sponsored Fitna al-Khawarij and Fitna al-Hindustan in Quetta district’s Shaban area, “posing a threat to the local population”.

On September 22, six terrorists were killed and nine suspected individuals were arrested during an intelligence-based operation by security forces in Balochistan’s Saran Tangi area, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

According to Radio Pakistan, a large cache of ammunition and weapons were also recovered from the possession of the terrorists.

Earlier that day, security forces killed four more terrorists belonging to a banned organisation in an intelligence-based operation carried out in two areas of Panjgur district.

According to officials, security forces launched an intelligence-based operation on the information about the presence of armed militants in Koh-Prom and the Aphan area of Panjgur district.

“Four armed terrorists of Fitna al Hindustan were killed in the heavy gun battle during the operation,” they said, adding that a large quantity of arms and ammunition was seized from the hideouts of the terrorists.

The initiative has been taken under Pakistan’s New Tax Operating Model and was approved by the government in principle in June.

The centralised and faceless tax model is similar to systems used in the UK, Australia, the Netherlands, Singapore and India. It is designed to eliminate physical contact between tax authorities and taxpayers to prevent corruption.

The decision to establish the National Faceless Centre was taken the Board in Council — a body headed by the FBR chairperson — in its meeting on Friday, an FBR statement said.

It described NFC as a major reform that “changes how tax audits and assessments are carried out in Pakistan”.

Until now, a taxpayer whose return was picked for audit had to deal with a particular officer in a particular office, often in person. Under the new system, that contact ends.

Cases will be selected by a computerised, risk-based system rather than by any officer. Each case will then be assigned automatically to an officer who may be sitting anywhere in the country. The taxpayer will not know who the officer is, and the officer will have no say in which case comes to them.

Every case will pass through three separate hands. One officer will conduct the audit, a second will make the assessment, and a third will review the work for quality before any order is issued. No single officer will control a taxpayer’s case from start to finish.

All notices, replies and hearings will take place electronically through FBR’s IRIS system, and where the law requires a physical verification or recovery, it will be carried out by a separate field team, the statement detailed.

The NFC draws its legal authority from the Finance Act, 2026.

It will be headed by an Inland Revenue chief commissioner, with dedicated wings for faceless audit, faceless assessment, quality control and field operations. A Programme Management Unit has already been set up to oversee its rollout.

“The purpose of the reform is same rules for every taxpayer, decisions based on data rather than personal judgement, and an end to the face to face contact that has long been a source of complaints. FBR expects the NFC to make tax proceedings faster, fairer and more transparent for taxpayers across Pakistan,” the statement said.

The “cockroach” youth movement, which counts millions of supporters and forced the education minister out in July, said it would launch protests across India on Oct 2 if Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar does not resign by Saturday.

The protests, which are backed by other opposition groups, mark a new political challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Kumar, 62, a former civil servant, was appointed to head the independent Election Commission of India by Modi’s government.

“Theft of votes is happening across the country,” local Congress party leader Amarinder Singh Raja said in Chandigarh in the northwest, one of at least two places where police fired water cannon after protesters climbed buses and barricades.

Congress and other opposition parties have accused the eleciton commission of colluding with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to manipulate voter lists and win state elections in recent years, charges both the commission and the BJP have denied. Kumar himself has not commented.

Newspaper reports dissent within the commission

In at least a dozen of India’s 28 states, Congress supporters shouted slogans against Kumar, held up posters demanding his arrest and in one instance, burned an effigy of him and Modi.

In the capital Delhi, hundreds of protesters climbed barricades and hurled insults at a man wearing a Kumar mask.

The demonstrations were triggered by a report in the Indian Express newspaper on Wednesday that Kumar’s deputies had questioned him over changes to voter lists that opposition groups say benefit Modi’s BJP.

“For three years, I have been exposing vote theft. Now, the election commissioners themselves are acknowledging it and bringing the truth to light,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said late on Thursday, referring to Kumar’s deputies.

“Gyanesh Kumar has committed treason. He should resign immediately,” he added.

The Election Commission said differences among officers were normal in any institution and that all its actions were lawful. The BJP dismissed the report and said that opposition parties were indulging in a smear campaign because popular support for the BJP meant they lost elections.

State elections next year — including in the most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, and Modi’s home state of Gujarat, both ruled by the BJP — are key tests of support ahead of parliamentary elections due in 2029.

The information ministry also took note of Afghan claims that there had been no casualties among the Afghan forces in the latest episode of clash between the two sides.

“The claim is fake and fabricated. As per actual facts, an attempted Afghan aggression in the Gulistan sector was thwarted on night between Sept 24 and Sept 25, and during the process and subsequent heavy punishment inflicted on opposing Taliban posts, at least 13 Afghan Taliban personnel were killed and several injured,” the information ministry said in a post on X.

It also shared visuals in the post, which the ministry said were of the incident.

The incident, it added, had already been “widely covered by media and circulated extensively across social media, providing visual evidence of the border engagement and punishment inflicted on the Afghan Taliban after their cowardly attack”.

“The […] Afghan ministry’s attempt is no surprise since the Taliban are habitual liars having no moral and reputational standing,” it added.

The latest clash has taken place amid an uptick in tensions at the Pak-Afghan border.

Pakistan conducted precision aerial and drone strikes in 10 locations across Afghanistan on Thursday in retaliation for drones launched from the neighbouring country a day earlier.

The response came after eight drones, launched from Afghanistan, entered Pakistani airspace near the Torkham border and Kohat on Wednesday. Security sources said they were subsequently shot down. It was also reported that the Afghan Taliban engaged in unprovoked firing the night before near Kurram as security forces foiled an attempt by terrorists to cross into Pakistan.

On Sept 21, Pakistan, in response to recent terrorist attacks in KP, conducted “calibrated” airstrikes in the border region with Afghanistan against terrorist hideouts and safe havens of terrorist organisations.

A statement from the information ministry on Monday said that over 28 terrorists were eliminated in the strikes. “It is a matter of grave concern that Afghanistan continues to remain a hub of terrorism,” the ministry said at the time, specifying that the “threat to Pakistan emanates from Afghanistan”.

The airstrikes had come after a major attack in the old Police Lines in KP’s Kohat claimed 23 lives and injured about 100 others. Eight terrorists were killed during an overnight clearance operation launched to clear the area.

Ghazab lil-Haq

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar described Monday’s action as part of Pakistan’s ongoing counter-terrorism campaign, Ghazab lil Haq.

On the night of February 26, following unprovoked firing by the Afghan Taliban from across the border, Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil Haq against terrorist hideouts.

Pakistan also carried out strikes in the border region with Afghanistan in late June, with the government saying they were in response to a wave of terrorist attacks, including one on a Rangers camp in Karachi.

At the time, Tarar said that 25 terrorists were killed in those strikes in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar.

Pakistan had carried out similar strikes on terrorist hideouts along its border with Afghanistan earlier that month, killing 26 terrorists.

In July, security forces responded to unprovoked firing by the Afghan Taliban at border posts in Kurram, security sources had said. In the same month, the Afghan Taliban regime launched four rudimentary drones across the border into Balochistan, which were shot down by security forces. Two drones were also shot down in June in Qila Abdullah and Chagai districts.

Pak-Afghan ties

As clashes continue, tensions between Islamabad and Kabul have remained high. Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration in Kabul to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil, particularly those linked to the banned TTP, that are used for attacks in Pakistan. Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded.

Earlier this week, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar addressed a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), where he called for steps towards concrete and verifiable action to prevent the use of Afghan soil for terrorism against any neighbouring country, particularly Pakistan.

Dar said Pakistan was “seriously concerned” about the presence of over two dozen terrorist groups in Afghanistan that threatened regional and international peace and security.

Last week, Pakistan also told the UN Security Council that it would respond to terrorist threats emanating from Afghanistan in self-defence as and when needed and in accordance with international law.

Earlier this month, the Foreign Office (FO) declared that meaningful progress in relations with Kabul would depend on the Taliban taking concrete and verifiable action against Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other terrorist groups operating from Afghan territory.

It maintained that while Islamabad welcomed China’s continuing engagement, the external facilitation could not substitute for action by Kabul against terrorist infrastructure.

According to a UN Security Council-mandated monitoring report — covering the period from December 16, 2025 to June 9, 2026 — Afg­han Taliban’s continued support for TTP has contributed to a rise in the frequency and lethality of terrorist attacks in Pakistan, even as Kabul has taken some initial steps to rein in the group.

The report also pointed to growing operational and facilitation linkages among the TTP, Al Qaeda, Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIL-K) and the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).