Washington DC: The United States (US) supported Pakistan’s right to defend itself from terrorism, saying that the Pakistani people had “suffered tremendously” from such attacks as Washington repeated it call on the Afghan Taliban not to US backs Pakistan’s right to defend itself from terrorism.
In a press briefing, State Department Spokesman Ned Price said that “Pakistan has suffered tremendous violence owing to the threats that are — that have in many cases emanated from Afghanistan.” Ned Price warned of the increasing dangers of terrorism: “Terrorism remains a scourge that has taken so many Pakistani, Afghan, and other innocent lives.
United States and Pakistan do indeed have a shared interest in ensuring that the Taliban live up to the commitments and those terrorist groups like IS-K, TTP, Al-Qaeda are no longer able to threaten regional security.” Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been tense, due to increased border tensions, particularly the cross-border attacks against Pakistan by Afghan-based terrorist organizations supported by Indian RAW.
TV Program aired on Indian TV Channel “Aaj Tak” refers suicide car bomb attack on Hafiz Saeed home in Lahore. TV report covered detailed planning/ execution of attack which was possibly conducted by Indian intelligence agencies.
According to experts, by sponsoring terrorism against Pakistan from foreign territory, India had violated various Articles of the United Nations Charter including Article 2(4), Article 41(3) of the Vienna Convention, and Paras 2 and 5 of UN Security Council Resolution 1373 of 2001. In an annual report, titled “Pakistan Security Report 2022”, Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) revealed that total of 262 terrorist attacks in Pakistan in the year, claimed 419 lives and injured another 734 people.
A 25 per cent increase has been recorded in fatalities in the outgoing year as compared with 2021. Out of the total attacks, the banned TTP carried out 89 terrorist attacks in Pakistan in the year 2022. The Islamic State’s Khorasan (IS-K) chapter also stepped up its attacks in the year and carried out at least 23 terrorist attacks as compared to eight in 2021.
The security report notes that the Afghan Taliban’s seizing of power in Kabul and the Pakistani state’s mistaken and persistent ambition to engage in peace talks with the TTP encouraged the group to re-group and escalate terrorist violence in the country.
The report says that insecurity and violence at the Pak-Afghan border have been growing gradually since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan. “Taliban have apparently taken a strict and nationalistic stance in their response to Pakistan’s efforts to fence the border.”
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