On July 22, the ISPR director general while addressing a press conference cleared misunderstandings and doubts about the Operation Azm-e-Istehkam. He had stated that even the most serious matters of national security were being politicised.

He said that 22,000 small and big operations had been conducted against terrorism so far, adding that security agencies were conducting 112 operations on a daily basis.

The ISPR director general further said that a “massive, illegal political mafia” in the country was trying to sabotage ongoing Azm-e-Istehkam operation to fulfil its vested interests.

The military’s spokesperson talked about the recent rise of “organised propaganda” against the armed forces based on “false and concocted news”.

Responding to a question regarding the potential of displacement in key areas as a result of the said operation, Lt Gen Sharif said that “very important issues were being sacrificed on the altar of politics”, adding that Azm-e-Istehkam was one such example.

He stressed that it was a “comprehensive counter-terrorism campaign” launched through national consensus and was “not just a military operation as it was being portrayed”.

He said, “A narrative is being built that the operation would displace people […] but the purpose of the operation was only to reinvigorate the already in-place National Action Plan (NAP). He added that the document of the operation clearly mentioned that.

The DG said, “A massive illegal, political mafia rose to sabotage the operation and the first move of that mafia was to make the operation controversial through false and fake arguments.”

Lt Gen Sharif said that a “very strong lobby” had a “vested interest” because of which it didn’t want the NAP to succeed, adding that the entity in question was “receiving a lot of money” to subvert the operation.