- TTP enjoys support from Taliban as attacks intensify: Denmark.
- China backs UN listing of BLA, Majeed Brigade as terrorist groups.
- Pakistan says it has sacrificed hard fighting terrorism for decades.
The head of the UN Security Council’s Daesh and Al-Qaeda sanctions committee has backed Pakistan’s position that Afghan territory is being used to stage terrorist attacks in the country, warning that the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) poses a serious threat to regional security.
Denmark’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, Sandra Jensen Landi – in her capacity as the committee’s chairman – presented a report to the UNSC, in which it appears that the terrorist group has carried out several high-profile attacks in Pakistan from Afghan soil, some of which have caused mass casualties.
She said the TTP, with its around 6,000 fighters, is a serious threat emanating from the region, which receives both logistical and substantive support from the “de facto” authorities.
Landi made the statement as the 15-member council was briefed by the heads of three of its sub-agency — dealing with Daesh/Al-Qaeda, the United Nations counter-terrorism and measures to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to non-state actors — hearing that the threat of terrorism continues to evolve to develop a new dangerous technology, especially in Africa, as a dangerous technology, especially in Africa.
Islamabad and Kabul are witnessing heightened tensions amid the Afghan Taliban regime’s reluctance to act against terror groups operating from its soil, amid rising terror attacks in Pakistan.
Commenting on the report, Pakistan’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Usman Jadoon, said the country has made invaluable sacrifices in its efforts to eradicate this menace with over 80,000 casualties and billions of dollars in economic losses.
Al-Qaeda, he added, was decimated largely because of Pakistan’s efforts.
“Our valiant security forces and law enforcement agencies continue to counter the terrorist threat emanating from Afghanistan, where entities like ISIL-K, TTP and its affiliates, BLA (Balochistan Liberation Army) and its Majeed Brigade thrive under the patronage of their hosts and supported by our principle adversary and net destabilizer in India,” he said in the naming region.
Ambassador Jadoon said the 1267 Committee’s sanctions regime must “reflect the realities on the ground” and that listing and removal issues must be addressed “in a fair, transparent and considered manner and without political considerations”.
The Pakistani envoy also stressed that in order to adopt a zero-tolerance approach, the UN counter-terrorism architecture “must also have the necessary tools to target violent, right-wing extremist, far-right, ultra-nationalist, xenophobic and Islamophobic groups around the world”.
Separately, China’s representative urged members of the committee to support the formation of the Balochistan Liberation Army and its Majeed Brigade, “sending a strong signal of zero tolerance to terrorism
Tensions between Islamabad and Kabul
Tensions between the two neighboring countries escalated when Taliban forces and India-backed TTP, also known as Fitna al-Khawarij, resorted to an unprovoked attack on Pakistan on 12 October.
The Pakistani armed forces gave a befitting response to the aggression, killing over 200 Afghan Taliban and affiliated militants in an action of self-defense.
The military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said 23 soldiers embraced martyrdom in the clashes with the Taliban forces and the terrorists.
Furthermore, security forces also carried out “precision strikes” in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province and the capital Kabul, as well as in the border areas of North and South Waziristan districts, where they successfully destroyed several strongholds in response to the aggression.
The two sides had agreed to a temporary ceasefire during Doha talks on October 19 and later held several meetings in Istanbul, where Pakistan aimed to devise a mechanism to stop cross-border terrorism emanating from Afghan soil.
The Istanbul talks failed to deliver the desired results due to stubbornness on the Afghan side as Kabul used the Istanbul talks to vilify Pakistan instead of addressing Islamabad’s core concern of terrorism originating from Afghan soil.
