Islamabad (GNP): Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Information and Broadcasting Minister Attaullah Tarar renewed Pakistan’s determination to fight terrorism at separate events in Islamabad.
Dar spoke at an international conference organised by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) titled “Pakistan’s Evolving Counterterrorism Landscape: TTP, Cross-Border Threats and Regional Security,” while Tarar addressed a seminar.
Dar said Pakistan is resolved to fight terrorism in every form. He urged the Afghan authorities to take concrete, verifiable and irreversible action against the TTP and other militant groups, and to make sure Afghan territory is never used for terrorism against Pakistan or any other state.
He reminded the audience of the heavy sacrifices Pakistan has made and called for stronger international cooperation against the threat. He pointed to Indian sponsorship of terrorist groups targeting Pakistan, including from Afghan soil, and said such backing seriously endangers regional peace, stability and security.
Dar outlined the steps Pakistan has taken at home, including implementation of the National Action Plan, Azm-e-Istehkam and better intelligence coordination, along with its diplomatic work to deepen bilateral and multilateral counterterrorism cooperation.
He praised Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif’s leadership in this struggle and paid tribute to the armed forces under Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir and to law enforcement agencies for their courage and sacrifices.
Tarar said the government will not let terrorists use safe havens in Afghanistan to attack Pakistan, and that Pakistan’s desire for peace should not be mistaken for weakness.
He said United Nations and independent assessments put the number of TTP militants in Afghanistan at over six thousand, with the total number of terrorists estimated at more than twenty thousand. Since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021, he said, the TTP has continued to use Afghan territory for recruitment, training, facilitation, planning and launching attacks on Pakistan. The 38th UN Monitoring Report, he added, records the relocation of nearly two thousand TTP fighters and their families from border areas to deeper inside Afghanistan.
Describing the price Pakistan has paid, Tarar said no other country can claim to have lost more than 90,000 lives and suffered economic losses above 100 billion dollars. He called Pakistan a symbol of resistance to terrorism and a shield standing between terrorists and the rest of the world.
He said Pakistan’s recent mediation between the United States and Iran showed again that the country believes in peace and wants to bring it to the world. The world, he noted, is recognising those efforts under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy Prime Minister Dar and Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir.
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Tarar also said a very welcome change took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa yesterday that will strengthen the province’s people in the fight against terrorism, and described them as firm and resolute in that fight.
Sohail Majeed is a Special Correspondent at The Diplomatic Insight. He has twelve plus years of experience in journalism & reporting. He covers International Affairs, Diplomacy, UN, Sports, Climate Change, Economy, Technology, and Health.
