Islamabad: Pakistan Thursday asked Afghanistan’s Taliban government to hand over those involved in the deadly attack on an army post this week that killed about two dozen soldiers.
Six terrorists linked to Tehrik-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP) rammed an explosive-laden truck into the security post in Dera Ismail Khan in the South Waziristan tribal district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province Tuesday, killing 23 soldiers.
Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at the weekly press briefing that Pakistan has noted the statement by Afghanistan’s interim government that it will investigate the terrorist attack of December 12.
“Afghanistan must take strong actions against the perpetrators of this heinous attack and hand them over to Pakistan along with the TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) leadership in Afghanistan. We also expect Afghanistan to take concrete and verifiable steps to prevent the use of Afghan soil by terrorist entities against Pakistan,” she said.
He said Pakistan’s reaction against terrorist attacks was based on facts which have been determined by our security and law enforcement authorities.
“And, our law enforcement authorities have determined that terrorist incidents in recent months have their links with individuals belonging to TTP or its affiliates who have hideouts and sanctuaries inside Afghanistan,” she said.
She hoped that the Afghan authorities would take effective action against the terrorist sanctuaries and hideouts and the results on ground will speak for themselves of the effectiveness of the action taken inside Afghanistan.
“We have made some concrete demands on Afghanistan and we have made them public with respect to Tuesday’s terrorist attack. We expect Afghanistan to take those actions,” she said.
To a question if Afghanistan accepted Pakistan’s demand to condemn the latest attack at the highest level, she said the first thing any country expects when such a heinous attack takes place is an expression of condemnation and sympathy.
“Pakistan has received such messages of sympathy from a large number of countries. We expect similarly strongly worded statements from the top leadership of Afghanistan as it would reflect their seriousness in combating this menace of terrorism and to signal to these terrorist groups that they are not welcome in Afghanistan,” she said.
Baloch said the members of the UN Security Council have condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly terrorist attack and expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences. They have also recalled that the TTP to which Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan is affiliated, is listed by the Security Council ISIL/Da’esh and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee.
“Members of the Security Council have underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice. They have urged all States to cooperate actively with the Government of Pakistan, as well as all other relevant authorities in this regard,” she said.
To a question about reports of talks with militants, she said Pakistan strongly denies reports or speculation of any talks, which are claimed to be taking place between Pakistan and TTP. “There is absolutely no dialogue taking place,” she said.
PTI
