The government on Thursday claimed that the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) used in terrorist activities across Pakistan were being manufactured in Afghanistan. It further blamed Afghan militiamen for secretly training Pakistani tribesmen to make such explosives.
“Afghan militiamen always destroy the biometric systems, which makes it impossible to identify people allied to the militants, who cross the border; the militants lure the youth into this notorious business,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters after attending the National Counter Terrorism Conference.
The conference focused on coping with threats of roadside blasts.
Quoting reports of powerful intelligence agencies, the minister said that explosive materials used in the deadly attack in Meena Bazar, Peshawar, were manufactured in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. “Our security forces are witnessing the entry of armed terrorists in the tribal belt of Pakistan; the provincial government does not know how many drug barons and criminals are crossing in daily to carry out their evil designs,” he said.
The minister said that the Frontier Constabulary will take special training to eliminate such terrorists, who are secretly running their business of explosive devices in the mountainous terrains, hinting towards Thursday’s bomb attack in Hangu which wounded half a dozen paramilitary troops.
The minister made this claim amid recent improvement in the relationship between the two neighbours pertaining to ‘law and order’ and in the light of mutual cooperation between law enforcement agencies to curb terrorism along the common border.
Earlier, in his address Malik revealed that Pakistan as a frontline state in the war on terrorism has sacrificed the lives of 2,500 soldiers since the start of the operation in Afghanistan by the US and Nato.
“As many as 4,000 innocent people have lost their lives to suicide and bomb attacks across the country during the last three years,” he said.
Malik said that local banned outfits active in raising funds to carry out terror activities are working at the behest of al Qaeda and the Taliban. He also said that the local police are incapable of coping with terrorists due to non-availability of modern weaponry, requesting assistance from the international community in boosting police training and forensic capabilities.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 26th, 2010.
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