Islamabad, Feb 19 Pakistan has issued a demarche to the ruling Taliban regime in Afghanistan for allegedly allowing the use of Afghan soil for carrying out a recent attack on security forces in Bajaur district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, local media reported on Thursday.
The demarche was issued when Pakistan's Foreign Office (PFO) summoned the Afghan deputy head of mission. The statement read, "Pakistan condemned in the strongest possible terms the vehicle-borne suicide terrorist attack followed by a fire raid on Pakistan military and law enforcement agencies’ posts in Bajaur, carried out by Fitna al Khawarij [or] the TTP," Pakistan's leading daily Dawn reported.
Fitna al Khawarij is a term used by Pakistan for terrorists belonging to the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group. PFO said that the group, whose leadership is based in Afghanistan, "operates with impunity from Afghan soil." It said that Afghanistan has given repeated assurances to Pakistan, however, it has taken "no visible or concrete actions," Dawn reported.
According to the statement released by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), a terrorist attack was conducted on a checkpost in Bajaur which involved an explosive-laden vehicle, killing 11 security personnel on Monday. According to the statement, 12 terrorists were killed after security forces retaliated.
Earlier this month, Afghanistan's Ministry of National Defence rejected Pakistan's allegations regarding the attack at a mosque in Islamabad on February 6, terming them "irresponsible and baseless" and urged Pakistani officials to take responsibility for their internal security shortcomings, local media reported.
Afghanistan's statement came after Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, in a post on X, mentioned that preliminary findings indicate that the attacker had been on the move to and from Afghanistan.
In the statement, the Afghan National Defence Ministry said that Asif "immediately and irresponsibly" blamed Afghanistan for the attack without carrying out proper investigations. Afghanistan authorities stated that this pattern was witnessed in the past as well, especially regarding incidents in Balochistan and other security incidents in Pakistan, Afghanistan's Ariana News reported.
The ministry stated that connecting such attacks with Afghanistan "has no logic or foundation", adding that these statements cannot hide the internal security failures of Pakistan or help address the problem. In the statement, the ministry questioned: "If they were truly able to identify the perpetrators immediately after the incident, then why were they unable to prevent it beforehand?”
It expressed its commitment to Islamic values, which do not permit harming innocent civilians under any circumstances and asked Pakistani security officials to take responsibility for their internal security shortcomings, review their policies and implement a more constructive and cooperative approach towards people of Pakistan and neighbouring nations, Ariana News reported.
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