Pakistan envoy warns Afghan safe havens have encouraged BLA, TTP after Taliban takeover
Permanent representative of the UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad Photo: APP
UNITED NATIONS:
A senior Pakistani diplomat has urged the UN Security Council to “act swiftly” to designate the “foreign-funded” Balochistan Liberation Army as a terrorist group under its sanctions regime, established by Resolution 1267 in 1999, as he renewed Pakistan’s pledge to fight and eradicate terrorists on its soil.
In a council debate on ‘Threats to international peace and security posed by acts of terrorism’, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, said that terrorist groups like Fitna al Khawarij (TTP) and Fitna al Hindustan (BLA) and its Majeed Brigade got a “new lease of life in Ka Taliban” after taking over the life of Ka Taliban.
The United States has already labeled the Balochistan Liberation Army a “foreign terrorist” organization.
“We hope the council will act quickly to designate BLA under the 1267 sanctions regime and grant the listing request currently under consideration,” he told the 15-member council.
Ahmad said the international community must address the contemporary terrorist threat through a “collective, comprehensive and coordinated response”, including through a balanced implementation of the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (GCTS).
“We must effectively tackle the terrorist threats from Afghanistan,” he said, adding that terrorist groups such as the BLA and TTP were operating from Afghan soil with “active support from our eastern neighbor.”
As documented by the Council’s monitoring team, he added, the Afghan de facto authorities (DFA) provide a permissive environment for a number of terrorist groups, particularly the TTP; Al-Qaeda, ISIL-K (Da’esh) remain active with an external focus, and ETIM/TIP members move freely in Afghanistan.
“These terrorist groups pose a threat not only to Pakistan but to the entire region and beyond. Recent terrorist activity in Central Asia close to the Afghan border has validated earlier warnings,” the Pakistani envoy said, adding: “It has become imperative to prevent billions of dollars of sophisticated weapons and equipment left behind by foreign forces in Afghanistan from falling into the hands of terrorists.”
He said the BLA claimed responsibility for a series of terrorist attacks across several locations in Balochistan over the past weekend that resulted in the martyrdom of 48 innocent civilians, including 5 women and 3 children.
“As a frontline state”, he said, Pakistan has suffered more than 90,000 casualties and heavy economic losses, referring to the country’s role in dismantling Al-Qaeda and countering ISIL-Khorasan province.
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Ahmad also stressed the need for accountability from external destabilizing actors who support, finance and arm these groups, including their proxies in Afghanistan.
“There must be zero tolerance for state terrorism – of the type displayed in India’s illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir and other situations of foreign occupation,” he said.
“Occupation and accompanying repression cannot be masked as counter-terrorism to suppress people’s internationally recognized and UN-sanctioned legitimate struggles against foreign occupation and for their inalienable right to self-determination in accordance with relevant UN resolutions and international legitimacy.”
In this context, Ambassador Asim Ahmad called on the UN counter-terrorism architecture and sanctions regimes to ensure that they respond adequately to current challenges and represent a fair, just and comprehensive mechanism to address the global scourge of terrorism.
“Counter-terrorism has so far singled out the followers of only one religion – that is Muslims,” he pointed out. “There is a need to encompass the new and emerging forms of terrorism, including white supremacists, far-right extremists, violent nationalists, fascists, fascist, xenophobic, Islamophobic and anti-Muslim groups and similar ideologies in various parts of the world.”
“Terrorism can only be defeated through unity and cooperation, without any double standards or discrimination, by addressing the root causes and by preventing its exploitation for politically motivated agendas,” the Pakistani envoy added.
Opening the debate, Alexandre Zouev, Acting Under-Secretary-General of the UN Office for Counter-Terrorism, told the Council that Da’esh and its affiliated terrorist groups continued to adapt and demonstrate resilience despite sustained counter-terrorism pressure, as he presented the Secretary-General’s latest biannual report on the threat to peace ISIL and international security.
Da’esh and its affiliates continue to expand in parts of Africa, particularly West Africa and the Sahel, with Islamic State’s West Africa Province further strengthening its presence in the Lake Chad region, he said. The group remains active in Iraq and Syria, while ISIL-Khorasan (ISIL-K) continues to pose a major threat in Afghanistan and beyond after claiming responsibility for the January 19 terrorist attack on a restaurant in Kabul.
Zouev said artificial intelligence and other technologies are increasingly being used to promote radicalization and recruitment, particularly targeting youth and children, while commercial satellite communications systems are being exploited for cheap and secure communications.
Regarding priorities identified by the Secretary-General, he highlighted three areas of concern: the harsh conditions in camps and detention facilities in north-eastern Syria and the need for safe, voluntary and dignified repatriation; the deteriorating security situation in parts of Africa that requires political ownership and coordinated regional responses; and the need for whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches based on the rule of law, human rights and inclusive, nationally owned prevention.
“The intensification of the threat posed by Da’esh and its affiliates, despite significant national and international efforts, underscores the necessity of maintaining global cooperation in counter-terrorism,” Zouev said. The ninth review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy this year provides an opportunity for Member States to reaffirm their commitments, assess progress since 2023 and address new and evolving threats.
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Natalia Gherman, executive director of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, said that in 2025 the directorate conducted assessment visits to Austria, Cameroon, Chad, Hungary, Malta, Norway and Somalia, and this week it is leading a visit to Tajikistan. “We work closely with each member state that we visit” to provide tailored support and recommendations, she said, also describing a recent gathering of countries in Kenya aimed at helping combat terrorists’ increasingly sophisticated use of the Internet.
Among other recent work, German said the directorate published its fourth thematic summary of gaps, focused on Africa, and that it supports international efforts to disrupt the use of virtual assets and new financial technologies for terrorist purposes. In line with its analytical mandate to identify issues, trends and new developments, it published a report on threats to critical infrastructure in partnership with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). “The threat posed by terrorists’ use of unmanned aerial systems has emerged as a priority for many Member States,” she said, also citing increasingly sophisticated digital methods now being used to exploit children.
