Afghan embassy representative told to hand over Hafiz Gul Bahadur

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday summoned a representative of the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad where Pakistan strongly condemned the suicide attack perpetrated on a security forces convoy in the Bannu district on November 26 by an Afghan national.

The foreign office demanded the Afghan interim government to take swift “verifiable actions” against all terrorist groups and their sanctuaries. The envoy was also asked to arrest Hafiz Gul Bahadar and hand him over to Pakistan. He was also asked to prevent Afghan soil from terrorism against Pakistan.

Earlier ISPR on November 27 after the Bannu attack said that an Afghan national carried out a suicide attack a day earlier on a security forces convoy that killed two civilians and injured several others. “A motorcycle-borne suicide bomber, affiliated with Hafiz Gul Bahadur and later identified as an Afghan national carried out the attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in northwestern Pakistan. Seven civilians and three soldiers were injured in the attack”, said the ISPR. Hafiz Gul Bahadur is the leader of a Pakistani Taliban faction based in North Waziristan. Law enforcement agencies claimed that a document recovered from the scene of the attack identified the perpetrator as an Afghan citizen. The attacker was carrying ‘Tazkira’, the identity document for Afghan citizens, as per official sources.

The Foreign Ministry also in its meeting with Afghan representative, emphasised that Afghanistan take immediate verifiable actions against all terrorist groups and their sanctuaries. “Pakistan also demanded that Hafiz Gul Bahadar should be handed over to Pakistan, and prevent Afghan soil from terrorism against Pakistan,“ maintain our sources. The summoning of the Afghan representative comes as Pakistan continues to deport illegal Afghan citizens from Pakistan.