\u2022 FO rejects Taliban minister\u2019s criticism, defends border operations
\n\u2022 Says no pause in expulsion of Afghans after deadly earthquake
\n\u2022 Spox avoids addressing Trump\u2019s remarks, says SCO promotes multilateralism, peace<\/p>\n
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday emphasised the seriousness of the threat posed to regional peace and stability by Afghanistan-based terrorist groups, calling it a common challenge that required collaborative efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cGroups like Fitna Al-Khwarij represent a common threat to the peace and stability of our region, necessitating collective action to counter their malign influence,\u201d Foreign Office spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan said at a weekly media briefing.<\/p>\n
The government uses the term to refer to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorist group.<\/p>\n
The spokesman was responding to questions about reported Pakistani strikes across the border and comments by Taliban acting Defence Minister Mullah Yaqoob, who accused Pakistan of blaming Afghanistan for its own security shortcomings.<\/p>\n
Pakistan has long maintained that it faces a persistent threat from militant groups operating out of Afghanistan, including the TTP and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). Multiple United Nations Security Council reports have noted the presence of sanctuaries for these groups in Afghanistan, which Islamabad says enable cross-border attacks.<\/p>\n
Taliban officials, however, deny the allegations. In a recent media interview, Mullah Yaqoob said Pakistan\u2019s security apparatus was to blame for failing to prevent militant infiltrations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they cross into Pakistan from Afghanistan and travel deep inside Pakistani territory, why aren\u2019t they stopped there? Instead of addressing this, Pakistan unjustly accuses Afghanistan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Shafqat Ali dismissed the Taliban defence chief\u2019s remarks as \u201can exercise in irony\u201d. \u201cIt cannot mask the seriousness of this issue,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cThe enormity of the matter cannot be diminished by whatever number of statements you issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
The FO spokesman said security forces and law enforcement agencies conduct \u201ctargeted operations in border regions to safeguard our citizens from terrorist threats\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese operations are meticulously planned based on credible and actionable intelligence and executed with precision,\u201d he said, adding that Pakistan respects Afghanistan\u2019s sovereignty and remains committed to dialogue and cooperation.<\/p>\n
Expulsion of Afghans<\/p>\n
FO spokesman rejected calls to pause the expulsion of Afghans following last weekend\u2019s deadly earthquake in Afghanistan, insisting that deportations would continue and urging Germany to show seriousness in relocating vulnerable refugees.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the global norm, and this is our sovereign decision regarding who we allow to enter or stay in our country. So, any person who\u2019s illegal, we will repatriate that person,\u201d Shafqat Ali said.<\/p>\n
He was responding to an appeal by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, who earlier this week urged Pakistan to suspend its \u2018Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan\u2019 because of the humanitarian crisis triggered by the earthquake.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the circumstances, I appeal to the government of Pakistan to pause the implementation,\u201d Grandi had said.<\/p>\n
Shafqat Ali suggested there would be no extension of the Sept 1 deadline for Afghans to leave, noting that Pakistan already maintains a generous visa policy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are issuing a large number of visas to Afghans under different categories, including visit, business, family, education and medical visas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Afghanistan, we have a special category under which on-arrival visas are granted for certain medical emergencies. So, what I want to emphasise is that we already have a very liberalised visa regime in place.\u201d<\/p>\n
The FO spokesman also pressed Germany to accelerate the relocation of Afghans promised after the Taliban takeover. \u201cWe hope that they take it seriously. There is a large group of Afghans in Pakistan which the German side had committed to take to Germany. A number of deadlines have passed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2022 FO rejects Taliban minister\u2019s criticism, defends border operations \u2022 Says no pause in expulsion of Afghans after deadly earthquake \u2022 Spox avoids addressing Trump\u2019s remarks, says SCO promotes multilateralism, peace ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday emphasised the seriousness of the threat posed to regional peace and stability by Afghanistan-based terrorist groups, calling it a common […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11794,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11792\/revisions\/11794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}