KARACHI: Mian Zahid Hussain, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum & All Karachi Industrial Alliance, Chairman National Business Group Pakistan, Chairman Policy Advisory Board FPCCI, has urged the government to combine strong intelligence-based kinetic countermeasures with economic reforms to create a stable, secure environment for people and investment.
He said that Nation owes much to its Army and Security martyrs. The escalating internal security challenges and macroeconomic instability poses existential threat to Pakistan’s economic recovery and the future of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Since the Afghan Taliban takeover in August 2021, Pakistan’s internal security has worsened. The 2025 Global Terrorism Index ranks Pakistan among the top three countries with the highest terrorism death toll, with attacks more than doubling from 517 in 2023 to 1,099 in 2024.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) caused 52 percent of terrorism deaths in 2024, while the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) targeted CPEC and various National assets with new tactics, including female suicide bombers and train attacks, said Mian Zahid Hussain.
Pakistan, a frontline nation against terrorism for over 25 years, has suffered economic losses exceeding USD150 billion, while thousands of army and civilian personnel have sacrificed their lives to save the nation. Renewed insurgency undermines investor confidence and deters crucial foreign direct investment, delaying CPEC projects and increasing security costs.
He said that the Business community recommends an immediate, multi-faceted national strategy including severe kinetic response including the use of drone technology and, comprehensive security of CPEC assets must include mandatory implementation of gender-sensitive security protocols and female security personnel to counter the BLA’s evolving tactics.
Bilateral talks with Kabul have proven ineffective. The strategic imperative is to leverage China’s economic interests by prioritizing the China-Pakistan-Afghanistan trilateral engagement mechanism initiated in 2025 to compel the Afghan Taliban to remove TTP operational capacity from Afghan soil.
Mian Zahid Hussain warned that ignoring the BLA insurgency’s political roots and the TTP’s external support risks our security forces lives, ongoing economic losses and threatens strategic goals.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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