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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir on Tuesday said his country wishes for peace in the region, but any violations of its territory will be given a "firm and decisive response."

The development comes as Pakistan grapples with twin insurgencies: religiously motivated groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who operate mainly in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and ethno-nationalist Baloch separatists fighting the state in the southwestern Balochistan.

Islamabad this month conducted airstrikes against what it said were TTP-affiliated militants in Afghanistan, sparking deadly clashes between the two border forces that killed dozens on both sides before Islamabad and Kabul reached a ceasefire at talks held in Doha, Qatar.

In recent months, Pakistan has frequently accused Afghanistan of allowing the use of its soil and India of backing militant groups for waging attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi have consistently denied Islamabad's allegations.

"Indian-sponsored proxies, Fitna al Hindustan (Baloch separatists) and Fitna al Khawarij (TTP), propagate anti-people and anti-development agendas with malicious intent to perpetrate violence," Field Marshal Munir was quoted as saying by the Pakistani military's media wing, ISPR.

"While Pakistan seeks regional peace and stability, any violation of its territorial integrity, direct or indirect, will be met with a firm and decisive response to safeguard the lives and well-being of its citizens."

The army chief said this while addressing participants of a national workshop on Balochistan, Pakistan’s impoverished, mineral-rich province that is home to major Chinese investments, including a deep seaport as well as gold and copper mines.

A long-running separatist insurgency in the region has intensified in recent months, with separatist militants frequently attacking security forces, government officials and installations and people from other provinces.

Field Marshal Munir said Balochistan is the pride of Pakistan, endowed with highly vibrant, resilient and patriotic people who are its true wealth. He highlighted the federal and provincial governments’ development initiatives being undertaken to uplift the socio-economic landscape of Balochistan.

"All necessary actions are being taken to pursue these terrorists and rid the province of this menace [of militancy]," he reassured the participants, highlighting the role of civil society in sustainable development and negating vested political agendas.

KARACHI: Police in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province have made their first ever arrest using facial recognition technology of a suspect wanted in multiple violent crimes through a network of surveillance cameras recently deployed in the port city of Karachi, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Karachi, a city of nearly 20 million people that is also the country’s commercial capital, has a history of street crime, gang violence relating to turf wars over illicit drug trade, kidnapping for ransom as well as sectarian and politically motivated targeted killings.

Police said the suspect, Abdul Azeem, was identified and apprehended through a facial recognition (FR) camera, part of the city’s expanding Safe City project, which aims to modernize law enforcement through the use of real-time surveillance and automated data analysis.

“This is the first case of its kind in which police, with the help of cameras, managed to apprehend a criminal about whom there was no prior information,” Asad Raza, a deputy inspector general of police in Karachi’s South district, told Arab News.

“Using technology, his identity was confirmed and the cameras identified him as the same criminal the police were searching for. Immediate action was taken and he was arrested.”

As militants, armed gangs and political factions battled for influence across the city for years, authorities launched a major crackdown in 2013, ‘Karachi Operation,’ which saw paramilitary Rangers and police collaborate to bring violence down. While overall security has improved since then, street crime and organized criminal activity remain challenges.

Instead of relying solely on traditional policing, authorities are now turning to technology and have installed over 1,000 cameras in the city under Phase 1 of the Safe City initiative. Of them, more than 900 have been installed in the South zone where the arrest was made.

The new system includes three types of cameras: standard surveillance units, automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, and facial recognition (FR) cameras. FR cameras are positioned in public places including malls, parks and registration offices.

Azeem, traveling on a motorcycle, was flagged by one of the 42 facial recognition cameras installed in the South Zone. The alert was transmitted to the command-and-control center, which dispatched nearby officers to stop and verify the suspect, according to DIG Raza.

The suspect was wanted for multiple cases, including a police encounter, possession of illegal weapons and robbery.

The official emphasized the importance of integrating technology into urban policing.

“I believe that policing and technology have now become inseparable, and in all modern cities, law enforcement agencies are relying on technology to aid their operations,” he said.