ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s interior minister Rana Sanaullah said on Wednesday he did not threaten Afghanistan with an attack, though he maintained that his country would be within its right to take action on credible intelligence against militant factions planning to launch an attack against it.
Relations between the two neighboring states have been strained since a proscribed militant network, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), intensified attacks on Pakistani security forces after unilaterally calling off a cease-fire with the government in November.
Officials in Islamabad have maintained the top TTP leaders have found sanctuary in Afghanistan while urging the administration in Kabul not to allow armed groups to use its soil to launch attacks against other countries.
Pakistan’s interior minister said last month Islamabad could target TTP hideouts if Afghanistan, if the government in Kabul failed to dismantle the group or hand over its leadership to his country.
Reacting to the development, the Taliban administration said no country had the right to attack another nation since no law allowed such transgression. The Afghan Taliban chief spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid also noted his country wanted “peaceful relations” with neighboring states while regretting that Pakistani officials had been making “false statements” about Afghanistan.
“In my comment, I never said that we wanted to attack Afghanistan or anyone living there,” Sanaullah said while responding to a question about the recent statements issued by officials in Kabul in a news conference. “I said — and I stand by my words — that if we learn about a terrorist taking a position anywhere to launch an attack against us, Pakistan will and must engage [him] under international law.”
He added Pakistan’s national security committee (NSC) had decided in its last meeting on Monday the country would directly talk to the Afghan government to resolve the issue, instead of taking it up with anyone else.
Discussing the overall security situation of the country in the wake of a suicide attack in Islamabad on December 23 and a hostage situation created by TTP militants at a counterterrorism department (CTD) facility in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, Sanaullah said the NSC meeting also decided to restructure the CTD across the country.
“The CTD in all provinces, especially in Balochistan and KP, will receive assistance from the federation,” he continued. “It will get training opportunities to perform its functions more efficiently and be able to counter terrorism in a better way.”
Sanaullah informed the government was also thinking of creating a national counterterrorism department.
“We have discussed the creation of a national CTD to coordinate with all four provinces as well as GB [Gilgit Baltistan] and Azad Kashmir,” he added.
