Pakistan vows to dump terrorism in Indian Ocean, after decades of hosting it

Pakistan promises to throw terrorism into the Indian Ocean, even as questions persist over its terror ecosystem

January 17, 2026

Shehbaz Sharif’s latest anti-terror speech highlights Pakistan’s repeated rhetoric

PM Shehbaz Sharif’s dramatic promise triggers fresh questions about Islamabad’s long record of nurturing militant groups

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday declared that his country was determined to defeat terrorism and would “throw it into the Indian Ocean” — a statement that drew immediate scepticism given Islamabad’s long history of harbouring, protecting, and mainstreaming terror groups.

Addressing senior clerics of the National Paigham-i-Aman Committee, Sharif said militancy was being supported by Pakistan’s “enemies,” carefully avoiding any mention of the terror outfits that have openly operated from Pakistani soil for decades with state patronage.

“We are determined to defeat terrorism, and with the support of the people, we will throw it into the Indian Ocean,” Sharif said, reviving a familiar line that Pakistan’s leadership periodically deploys whenever global scrutiny intensifies.

The prime minister cited the deaths of over 100,000 Pakistanis due to terrorism and urged the international community to acknowledge Pakistan’s “sacrifices” — a narrative often repeated even as UN-designated terrorists continue to reside freely in the country and jihadist groups enjoy political, logistical, and ideological space.

In a moment of strategic irony, Sharif also claimed that Pakistan had “demonstrated its strength” during a four-day conflict with India in May 2025, despite the episode ending with international intervention and no alteration in regional realities.

The Pakistani leader further promised economic miracles, claiming the country possessed trillions of dollars’ worth of untapped natural resources, adding that poverty and unemployment would vanish if these “hidden treasures” were utilised — an assurance Pakistanis have heard repeatedly from successive governments.

The clerics’ committee, formed last year to counter extremism, terrorism, and sectarianism, has formally condemned the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban, stressing that terrorism has no religious justification. Critics, however, point out that similar declarations have rarely translated into dismantling terror infrastructure that targets India and Afghanistan.

Sharif expressed hope that the committee would help strengthen Pakistan’s national narrative against extremism — even as the state continues to differentiate between “good” and “bad” terrorists, a policy widely blamed for regional instability.

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