ISLAMABAD:The Afghan Taliban government have given “certain assurances” to neutralise the threat of banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Foreign Office (FO) said on Friday, following Islamabad’s latest demands seeking decisive action against the terrorist sanctuaries.
“We are obviously very disappointed that we have not seen the kind of results that we have expected from the Afghan authorities,” FO Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch told reporters at the weekly news briefing.
However, despite Pakistan’s disappointment, she emphasised that the “channels of communication” should continue. “We would continue to impress on Afghan authorities to take effective action against these terrorist groups. We have been given certain assurances with reference to our demands on the Afghan authorities. We now like to see effective action against these groups and substantial results on the ground with respect to any action that has been or is being taken against these terror outfits,” she added.
Pakistan, earlier this week, conveyed a list of demands including the handing over of Hafiz Gul Bahadur, whose group claimed the responsibility for the November 26 suicide attack in Bannu.
Authorities said that the suicide attack was carried out by an Afghan national, the latest in a series of attacks Pakistan had seen since the return of the Afghan Taliban to power in August 2021.
“These are ongoing conversations and I would not like to divulge all the details which are still being discussed between Pakistan and Afghanistan,” the spokesperson replied when asked to provide further details about the list of demands.
“However, our position has been clear that there should be effective, meaningful action against these terrorist groups and we should see concrete results of the action that Afghanistan takes against these terrorist groups,” she added.
Commenting on reports about the US foiling a plot to kill a Sikh leader on American soil by Indian intelligence agencies, the spokesperson these revelations released by the US authorities were the latest in a series of such reports that confirm the existence of a global network of Indian intelligence that was involved in espionage and extra-territorial killings.
“This network has been engaged in assassinations and abductions in South Asia for decades and Pakistan has remained a target of India’s state-sponsored terrorism, subversion and espionage,” she added.
“We have been inviting international attention to these activities of Indian intelligence services. Last year, Pakistan released a dossier with credible information on Indian involvement in the Lahore attack. We condemn these acts and believe that India’s irresponsible and reckless conduct is a clear violation of international law and the UN principle of state sovereignty,” according to the spokesperson
