ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has demanded the Taliban-led interim government of Afghanistan take "strict action" against militants involved in the December 12 deadly terror attack on security forces in Dera Ismail (DI) Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“We have noted the Afghan interim government statement that it will investigate the terrorist attack of December 12,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said while addressing a weekly press conference in Islamabad on Thursday.
At least 23 personnel were martyred on Tuesday after militants crashed an explosive-laden car into a Pakistani military installation in an attack claimed by affiliates of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), according to the army.
“In early hours of December 12, 2023, a group of six terrorists attacked a security forces post in the Daraban area of Dera Ismail Khan. The attempt to enter the post was effectively thwarted, which forced the terrorists to ram an explosive-laden vehicle into the post, followed by a suicide bombing attack. The resulting blasts led to the collapse of the building, causing multiple casualties; twenty-three brave soldiers embraced shahadat, while all six terrorists were effectively engaged and sent to hell,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had stated in a statement.
A little-known militant organisation Tehreek-e-Jihad-e-Pakistan (TJP) claimed accountability for one of the most devastating assaults on Pakistani security personnel.
At the press briefing today, the FO spokesperson said: “Afghanistan must take strong action against perpetrators of this heinous attack and hand them over to Pakistan along with the TTP leadership in Afghanistan.”
The FO spokesperson went on to say that Pakistan also expected the Afghan government to “take concrete and verifiable steps to prevent the use of Afghan soil by terrorist entities”.
Baloch also welcomed the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) messages of sympathy and condolences on the attack.
“They have also recalled that TTP, to which TJP is affiliated, is listed by the UNSC to the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee,” she said.
According to Baloch, the UNSC members emphasised the necessity of prosecuting the attack's planners, financiers, and perpetrators.
“They have also urged all states to cooperate actively with the Government of Pakistan as well as all relevant authorities in this regard,” she added.
In response to a question, the FO spokesperson said Pakistan was not engaging in dialogue with the TTP neither were talks being held in any “third country”.
“Pakistan strongly rejects any such reports,” she asserted.
In response to the terror attack, the FO demarched Afghan Charge d'Affaires Sardar Ahmad Shakib and issued a statement demanding prompt, verifiable action from the Afghan government against militant groups promoting terror in Pakistan.
The Afghan interim government responded to the demarche on Wednesday saying that they were "shocked at the attack in Pakistan" and pledged to look into the terror incident and requesting that Islamabad desist from holding Kabul responsible for all issues.
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