NIFTAC alerts Punjab against terror threat in its border region

LAHORE: Pakistan’s National Intelligence Fusion & Threat Assessment Center (NIFTAC), the analytical arm of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) has sounded an alarm over a sharp rise in militant activity endangering Chinese nationals and projects across the country, particularly in Punjab’s border districts.

Senior official sources told The News that the NIFTAC’s Monthly Threat Assessment based on intelligence received from Islamabad Headquarters earlier that month. It was addressed to Home Secretaries and Inspectors General of Police of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir, as well as to the Chief Commissioner of Islamabad, directing immediate remedial measures and submission of compliance reports.

According to the assessment, there has been a notable upsurge in terrorist incidents in Punjab’s Mianwali and Dera Ghazi Khan districts bordering Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Intelligence traces the movement and consolidation of Fidayeen al-Khilafat (FAK) factions, specifically the Tipu Gul and Ustrana groups—operating from Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan, areas contiguous with Punjab’s vulnerable frontier belt.

According to the official, NIFTAC’s report warns that Baloch sub-nationalist elements, allegedly backed by hostile agencies, have begun coordinating with FAK militants, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) operatives, and criminal gangs from the Kacha region. The nexus, it says, poses a credible threat to foreign nationals—especially Chinese engineers, technicians, and contractors working on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.

Provincial law-enforcement agencies are instructed to enforce Standard Operating Procedures for movement convoys, ensure regular security briefings for personnel guarding Chinese workers, and maintain heightened situational awareness and immediate rectification of security gaps identified in Chinese residential and work facilities, the official said.

The directions have been passed for emergency preparedness drills, including mock-attack exercises and on-site security training for Chinese nationals. Local employees engaged in CPEC-related projects are to undergo thorough background vetting to prevent insider threats.

Importantly, NIFTAC discourages indiscriminate combing operations, observing that such drives “do not render the desired results.” Instead, it advises targeted Intelligence-Based Operations (IBOs) in zones where verified information indicates the presence of hostile or suspicious elements—signalling a strategic pivot from broad sweeps to precision enforcement.

The alert underscores Pakistan’s continued struggle to protect strategic Chinese interests amid renewed militancy across its western and southern corridors. With CPEC remaining the centrepiece of Pakistan–China cooperation, the National Intelligence Fusion & Threat Assessment Center’s latest warning places renewed emphasis on inter-provincial coordination and swift, intelligence-driven counter-measures to safeguard one of the country’s most vital partnerships.