India, July 12 -- Assessment finds militants retain initiative despite intensified counterterrorism operations and leadership losses nationwide.

Pakistan's military has eliminated senior militant commanders, conducted hundreds of counterterrorism operations and inflicted heavy battlefield losses on insurgent groups during the first half of 2026, but these tactical successes have failed to wrest the strategic initiative from militant organisations, according to a previously unpublished assessment accessed by The Sunday Guardian.

The biannual Pakistan Militancy Assessment (January-June 2026), prepared by the Centre for New Age Warfare Studies (CNAWS), concludes that militant groups continue to dictate the tempo, location and nature of vio...