Daily Times Editorials 2nd August 2026

Grave Alert

The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies’ latest monthly assessment should unsettle anyone tempted to view the fight against terrorism through the lens of a single attack. Of the 2,786 deaths recorded in militant violence and counterterrorism operations during the first seven months of 2026, 205 came in July, including 112 security personnel, 74 civilians and 19 members of peace committees. Another 401 were terrorists killed in operations.

The security personnel lost in July account for more than a quarter of the 434 killed between January and July. Eighteen of the 19 peace committee members murdered during the month were from Balochistan. Eight suicide attacks, five involving explosive-laden vehicles, and 66 kidnappings–twice June’s number–show how terrorist groups are widening the cost of resisting them.

Their aim is not always to hold territory. Fear can achieve much of the same result. Violence is being used to push the state out of everyday life, one road and one frightened household at a time.

Balochistan bore 372 deaths, up from 109 in June. Mainland Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recorded another 154 deaths (terrorist deaths rose by 192 per cent, from 37 to 108). The rise in casualties reflects the severity of the threat as well as the intensity of the response. Soldiers and policemen are paying heavily to deny armed groups freedom of movement across difficult terrain.

The targeting of peace committees deserves particular attention. Local cooperation is indispensable to intelligence-led operations, yet those who assist the state are often left exposed after the immediate danger has passed. Protection, relocation and compensation for threatened intermediaries and their families cannot be left to improvised arrangements.

Security operations can clear routes, break cells and remove commanders. Their gains will remain fragile unless police, courts and district administrations are able to stay and function. Terror financing, kidnapping networks, smuggling channels and local facilitators require investigations, prosecutions and convictions, not battlefield pressure alone.

Islamabad must also continue pressing the Taliban authorities over the sanctuary and support available to anti-state groups and pursue evidence of foreign support for terrorist outfits operating in Balochistan.

In his latest press briefing, the military spokesperson said more than 40,000 intelligence-based operations had been conducted this year by the armed forces, police, civil armed forces and intelligence agencies. The scale confirms that the armed forces are carrying an exceptional burden. Their sacrifices have prevented the threat from becoming still worse. Civilian institutions must now turn those hard-won gains into lasting authority. *

Another Chance

Glasgow has a curious place in Pakistan’s boxing memory. Muhammad Waseem won Commonwealth Games silver there in 2014, the country’s last boxing medal at the event. Twelve years later, in the same city, Fatima Zahra has taken bronze in the women’s 60 kg category and become Pakistan’s first female Commonwealth Games boxing medallist.

Pakistan first fielded women boxers internationally only a decade ago. Zahra’s medal has come from a programme barely old enough to have a history and still too often treated as an afterthought. Girls with talent for the ring have had to make do with few bouts, patchy camps, uncertain official support and a sporting culture that continues to regard their participation as exceptional. Her result should end the excuses.

The contrast with the javelin final was telling. Much of Pakistan’s attention had been reserved for Arshad Nadeem and another meeting with Neeraj Chopra. Nadeem’s best throw of 77.41 metres left him outside the top eight after the first three rounds.Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Updates

Nadeem is entitled to the ordinary grace accorded to any athlete with an Olympic title and a record-breaking career. One difficult evening cannot carry a larger verdict. Yet the reaction to his exit again showed how heavily Pakistani sport depends on lone stars. Every few years, an exceptional athlete appears, drags a neglected discipline into public view and is then asked to carry expectations that should have been spread across squads, academies and generations.

Boxing has lived through this cycle before. Waseem’s silver in 2014 was hailed as proof that Pakistani talent had survived years of neglect. It did not produce a system capable of sending a steady stream of contenders to major events. Zahra’s medal must not become another isolated peak.

The Pakistan Boxing Federation and Pakistan Sports Board now have a clear duty to build around it. Women’s boxing needs trained women coaches and officials and selections that are transparent long before an international tournament approaches.Boxing

Above all, ring craft cannot be developed through ceremonial camps or an occasional foreign tour. It comes from regular competition, patient coaching and the confidence that progress will be rewarded rather than interrupted by administrative indifference.

Pakistan celebrates too many medals as miracles because it refuses to build the systems that make them routine. Zahra has done the hard part. She entered a sport with little history for Pakistani women and returned with a Commonwealth medal. Glasgow should not become another memory of what one athlete managed despite the system. *