FO asks Kabul to hand over DI Khan attack planners

Spokesperson firmly rejects reports of Pakistan being in talks with TTP or any 'third party'

ISLAMABAD:

The terrorist attack was claimed by the Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP), an unknown group, which emerged only recently. Pakistani authorities, however, saw the group an affiliate of the TTP.

“What I would like to do is invite your attention to the press release that we issued a couple of days ago, in which we underlined the involvement of a terrorist group affiliated with the TTP, which has claimed responsibility for this terrorist incident and Pakistan has called on Afghanistan to take action against its leadership and those responsible for this attack,” she said.

When asked, the spokesperson said she would not speculate about possible actions, including surgical strikes Pakistan might carry out to target the terrorist hideouts across the border.

“We have made some concrete demands on Afghanistan and we have made them public with respect to Tuesday's terrorist attack. We expect Afghanistan to take those actions. Afghanistan has said it would investigate the terror incident; we expect them to do more than investigate but to take effective concrete action against these terrorist groups and to hand over the culprits and the TTP leadership to Pakistan,” she added.

She strongly denied reports or speculation of any talks, which were claimed to be taking place between Pakistan and TTP. “There is absolutely no dialogue taking place,” she insisted.

She also said the first thing Pakistan expected from any country when such a heinous attack takes place was an expression of condemnation and sympathy.

“Pakistan has received such messages of sympathy from a large number of countries. We expect similarly strongly worded statements from the top leadership of Afghanistan as it would reflect their seriousness in combating this menace of terrorism and to signal to these terrorist groups that they are not welcome in Afghanistan,” the spokesperson maintained.
To another question about the future of relationship, the spokesperson said Pakistan always said that we would like to have very positive, friendly relations with Afghanistan.
“Pakistan will continue to facilitate trade, bilateral and transit trade, as we have done for the last several decades. We would like to facilitate our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan in meeting their humanitarian needs,” she said.

“There is only one issue that we hope can be eliminated as we move forward in developing this friendship and cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan; and that issue is that of terrorism, the terrorist threat that Pakistan faces because of the hideouts and sanctuaries of TTP and affiliated groups inside Afghanistan.”

“We expect the Afghan authorities to take action, concrete and verifiable action, against these terrorist groups so that the people of Pakistan and people of Afghanistan can live in peace and prosperity,” she stressed.