Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Sahir Shamshad Mirza and President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday expressed the “resolve to stamp out the scourge of terrorism” from the country.

The development came as Gen Mirza met Zardari at the Presidency, according to an official handout.

The CJCSC felicitated the president on assuming his office and briefed him about the country’s security situation as well as the operational preparedness of the armed forces.

Gen Mirza highlighted that the armed forces “had the capability to effectively deal with internal and external security challenges”, the statement said.

President Zardari lauded the armed forces’ role in “defending the national frontiers as well as their contributions towards the socio-economic development of the country”.

He conveyed his “complete confidence” in the security forces’ ability to successfully overcome internal and external security challenges.

“The meeting expressed the resolve to stamp out the scourge of terrorism with the support of the nation,” the statement said.

Today’s meeting comes two days after President Zardari met Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir.

During that meeting, the president had noted with concern “baseless and unsubstantiated allegations levelled by a specific political party and its few individuals” against the army for their political interests.

The COAS had apprised President Zardari regarding the ongoing operations of the army against terrorism and highlighted the operational preparedness against conventional threats.

Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities, especially in KP and Balochistan after the banned militant Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022.

According to a security report recently issued Centre for Research and Security Studies, Pakistan witnessed 432 violence-linked fatalities and 370 injuries among civilians, security personnel, and outlaws, resulting from as many as 245 incidents of terror att­acks and counter-terror operations during the first quarter of 2024.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan provinces, both bordering Afghanistan, accounted for over 92 per cent of all fatalities and 86pc of attacks (including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations) during this period. Individually, the former suffered 51pc and the latter 41pc of all fatalities in the first quarter of 2024, the report said.