AFP: Pakistan issued a demarche to the Taliban regime over the use of Afghan soil for a terrorist attack on security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur that martyred 11 soldiers, it emerged on Thursday.
According to a press release by the Foreign Office (FO), the demarche was issued on Wednesday afternoon when the FO summoned the Afghan deputy head of mission.“Pakistan condemned in the strongest possible terms the vehicle-borne suicide terrorist attack followed by a fire raid on Pakistan military and law enforcement agencies’ posts in Bajaur, carried out by Fitna al Khawarij [or] the TTP,” the statement said. Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The FO expressed concern that the group, whose entire leadership is based in Afghanistan, “operates with impunity from Afghan soil”.It re-emphasised that Pakistan had received repeated assurances from the Afghan Taliban regime, “but, regrettably, with no visible or concrete actions”.“The Afghan Taliban regime has been told to take immediate, concrete and verifiable measures against all terror groups operating from its territory, including their leadership,” the press release said.
The ministry also “categorically informed” the Afghan Taliban that Pakistan “reserved the right to respond and eliminate any khawarij belonging to the group as well as their affiliates”, wherever they were located, “to ensure [the] safety of its soldiers, civilians and territorial boundaries”.
It is worth mentioning that Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Wednesday that Islamabad will not hesitate to launch air operations inside Afghanistan to combat militancy, characterising the current regional instability as the “price we are paying” for decisions made during the 1980s and after Sept 11 terrorist attacks.
Speaking during a visit to Berlin, Asif accused the Afghan Taliban regime of conducting a “proxy war” alongside India against Pakistani interests and said military action would remain on the table until Kabul offered meaningful “assurances of peace”, according to a BBC report.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), a terror attack involving an explosive-laden vehicle on a checkpost in Bajaur martyred 11 security personnel on Monday.The statement added that 12 terrorists were eliminated after security forces retaliated and “engaged the fleeing khawarij with precision”.
President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the terrorist attack and extended condolences to the families of martyrs.Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also expressed sorrow at the loss of lives and condemned the attack in the “strongest terms”.
Pakistan had also issued a demarche to Afghanistan in late December, over its failure to rein in terrorist organisations operating from Afghan soil, after a deadly attack on a military camp in North Waziristan.
