Islamabad: The Pakistan Army’s top brass Monday said that sanctuaries and latest weapons available to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists in a “neighbouring country” is one of the reasons behind the spike in recent terrorist attacks, in a veiled reference to the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
During the 258th Corps Commanders’ Conference presided over by Army chief General Asim Munir, the top generals also vowed to fully support the strategic initiatives of the government for the revival of the economy by providing all possible technical and management assistance for the overall well-being of the people of Pakistan.
“The sanctuaries and liberty of action available to the terrorists of proscribed TTP and other groups of that ilk in a neighbouring country and availability of latest weapons to the terrorists were noted as major reasons impacting security of Pakistan,” the army said in a statement.
Though not named, the neighbouring country was Afghanistan which was blamed by Pakistan last week for tolerating the outlawed TTP on its soil.
Saturday, Defence Minister Khwaja Asif claimed that terrorists involved in bloodshed in his country were getting refuge in Afghanistan and warned that Pakistan would no longer tolerate this.
“Afghanistan is not fulfilling the right to be a neighbour and brother country and is not abiding by the Doha agreement. 50/60 lakh Afghans have 40/50 years of asylum in Pakistan with all rights,” Asif said.
“On the contrary, the terrorists who shed the blood of Pakistanis can find refuge on Afghan soil. This situation cannot continue any longer. Pakistan will use all its resources to protect its land and citizens,” the minister said.
His statement came a day after Army chief Gen Munir warned the Afghan Taliban of an “effective response” by his forces if they fail to stop harbouring militants who plot cross-border attacks from Afghanistan.
Tempers are running high in Pakistan after 12 soldiers were killed in two separate terrorist incidents in Balochistan July 13, the highest single-day toll of troops in the province.
A little-known group of the Pakistani Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the attack.
Pakistan has accused the Taliban government in Kabul of tolerating the presence of the banned TTP militants in the country.
Pakistan has seen a significant increase in TTP attacks since the Afghan Taliban came to power in 2021.
The army said Monday that the meeting deliberated in detail upon the operational preparedness and training aspects of the forces. The participants were briefed in detail about the prevailing internal security environment.
“Objective training remains the hallmark of our professionalism and we must always remain prepared to guard against any threat to our national security,” the army chief was quoted as saying on the occasion.
The commanders were also apprised of the government’s economic revival plan and the role of the Army in uplifting agriculture, IT, mining & mineral and defence production sectors under the ambit of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC).
PTI