File photo of Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, courtesy PPP Media Cell
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday indicated that Pakistan, as a last resort, may take action against militants inside Afghanistan if the Afghan interim government fails to deal with the terrorist threat emanating from its soil.
“We will act under international law to defend ourselves,” he told journalists at a ceremony launching the Digitized System Under Foreign Minister’s Change Management Reforms. “If the Afghan authorities don’t act, then action inside can be one of the options but not the first option,” he said, adding that Islamabad believed the Afghan interim government would tackle terrorists groups on its soil of its own accord.
“We are ready to help them [Afghan Taliban] if there is an issue of capacity,” he said. “If there is an issue of intention then that’s a separate matter,” he added.
The foreign minister’s remarks were uttered as Pakistan struggles with resurgent militancy, with a Daesh-claimed bombing at a JUIF rally in Bajaur on Sunday killing at least 54 people and leaving over 100 others injured. There has also been a significant uptick in terrorist attacks targeting law enforcers nationwide, particularly in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. In recent weeks, both the prime minister and the Army chief have indicated their frustration with Kabul’s inability to prevent terrorists from staging attacks on Pakistan from its soil.
At the launch event, Bhutto-Zardari reiterated that the writ of the state would be established at all costs, adding the government would not take any steps to appease militant or terrorist outfits. He said he had advised the prime minister to convene an Apex Committee meeting to address the issue of terrorist and criminal incidents in the country, adding it could clearly be seen that the resurgence of terrorism was linked to the exit of the U.S.-led forces from Afghanistan.
The arms and ammunition left behind by foreign forces fell into the hands of terrorist outfits and criminal organizations, challenging the government, he said. Stressing that Pakistan’s stance was clear, he said cooperating against terrorism was in the interest of both Islamabad and Kabul.
P.M.’s appeal
Separately, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also expressed concerns over the “liberty of action available” to terrorists in Afghanistan, and urged the interim government to take action to stop “transnational terrorism.”
“The interim Afghan government should undertake concrete measures towards denying its soil to be used for transnational terrorism,” the Prime Minister’s Office quoted him as saying during a visit to Peshawar alongside Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen. Asim Munir to visit victims of the Bajaur bombing.
According to the statement, the prime minister was briefed on the overall security situation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as well as efforts being taken to dismantle the terrorists’ network by disrupting linkages between planners, executioners, and abettors.
It said Sharif had noted with concern the involvement of Afghan citizens in suicide blasts and the liberty of action available to elements hostile to Pakistan in planning and executing such cowardly attacks on innocent civilians from sanctuaries across the border. “These cowardly attacks by terrorists cannot weaken our resolve to eradicate the menace of terrorism from Pakistan,” he said. “Security forces and law enforcement agencies with the support of the nation will ensure that those responsible for the dastardly attacks are brought to justice as soon as possible,” he added.