Pakistan Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar said on 8th November that there has been an increase in terror incidents in Pakistan since the Taliban came to power in 2021, Dawn reported.
Kakar linked the ongoing deportation drive of illegal immigrants to counter-terrorism actions, reported Dawn, a Pakistani English-language newspaper.
The Pakistan Caretaker Prime Minister, while addressing the media in Islamabad, said, “After the establishment of the interim Afghan government (Taliban) in August 2021, we had a strong hope that there would be long-term peace in Afghanistan. […] Strict action would be taken against Pakistan-opposing groups, especially the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, and they would absolutely not be allowed to use Afghan soil against Pakistan.”
“But unfortunately, after the establishment of the interim Afghan govt, there has been a 60% increase in terror incidents and 500 per cent rise in suicide attacks in Pakistan,” he said.
He further added, “In the past two years, 2,267 innocent citizens’ lives have been lost to this tragic bloodshed, for which the terrorists of TTP are responsible who are conducting cowardly attacks on Pakistani using Afghan soil.”
“During this time, 15 Afghan citizens were also among the people involved in suicide attacks. Other than this, till now, 64 Afghan citizens were killed while fighting Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies during the counterterrorism campaign,” he added.
Kakar did not provide any further details about the alleged involvement of Afghan nationals in any specific terror attack.
His statement comes after the country witnessed a sharp rise in terror incidents during the past week, including at Mianwali Training Air Base claimed by the Tehreek-i-Jihad Pakistan and an ambush in Gwadar claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Front, while no group claimed responsibility for attacks in Dera Ismail Khan, as per Dawn.
Kakar went on to recall that the above details were in the knowledge of the Taliban.
The premier said that according to a monitoring report released in July this year by the United Nations, there was “clear mention of TTP centres in Afghanistan and increase in its activities against Pakistan”.
The prime minister added that even after reassurances from the Afghan government of taking action against the TTP, “no actions were taken against anti-Pakistan groups”. “Instead, in a few instances, clear evidence of enabling terrorism also came forward,” he said without providing further details, as per Dawn.
While Pakistan tries to shift the blame on Afghan migrants for growing terrorism in the country, it seems to have forgotten that Pakistan once played an active role in the creation of the Taliban in 1990s and then again, its resurgence in 2021.
The very Pakistan that is now admitting that terrorist attacks in its country have only increased ever since the Taliban came to power, had openly batted for the return of the terrorist group in Afghanistan.
And yet, the terror-sponsoring state of Pakistan continues to train terrorists to infiltrate its neighbouring countries, especially India while it decries terrorist attacks by its homebred radicals.
How was Pakistan involved in building the Taliban?
Several Afghans who joined the Taliban were known to have received madrassa education in Pakistan. The head of the new Taliban government formed in 2021 in Afghanistan, Mohammad Hasan Akhund, who is also on the UN sanctions list, had studied at a seminary in Pakistan.
Pakistan is known to be the Taliban’s principal benefactor and one of the only three countries that recognised the Taliban when they first took power in Afghanistan. Pakistan was also the last country to break diplomatic ties with the Taliban after the US invaded Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks.
Meanwhile, support in Pakistan for Palestinian terrorist group Hamas is out in the open for all to see.
(With inputs from ANI)