Pakistan will not hold talks with any terrorist group: Foreign Office
Islamabad: Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi has asserted that Pakistan has never shunned dialogue with any Afghan government but will not hold talks with any terrorist group.
According to Kashmir Media Service, addressing his weekly press briefing, Andrabi said, “Pakistan has never eschewed dialogue with any government in Kabul. However, Pakistan will not hold dialogue with any terrorist groups, be it Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).” He added that since the Taliban regime assumed power in Afghanistan, terrorist attacks originating from Afghan soil against Pakistan have sharply increased. “Throughout these years, Pakistan — despite suffering military and civilian casualties — exercised maximum restraint and did not escalate,” he said.
He further said that Pakistan expected that with the passage of time, the Taliban regime would be able to control these attacks and take concrete actions against the banned TTP. He said that during this time, Pakistan also tried to positively engage with the Afghan Taliban regime, offering bilateral trade concessions and humanitarian assistance. “However, despite all these positive gestures by Pakistan, the response from the Taliban regimes has only been hollow promises and inaction,” he regretted.
He said that the TTP and the BLA were declared enemies of Pakistan. “Anyone harbouring, abetting or financing them is not considered a friend and a well-wisher of Pakistan and its people,” he said. “Pakistan is determined to take every possible action to safeguard its security and the security of its people. We regret that the Taliban regime is constantly trying to misrepresent the issue of terrorists hiding in Afghanistan as a humanitarian issue.
“Taliban regime is also trying to portray TTP and BLA as refugees in Afghanistan. This is not a humanitarian or a refugee crisis but a ploy to frame terrorists as refugees,” he said. “Pakistan is ready to receive any Pakistani living in Afghanistan … provided they are handed over at the border crossing … and not hurled across the border fully equipped with sophisticated weapons and equipment,” he said.
“The armed forces of Pakistan are making sacrifices to safeguard the lives and properties of the people of Pakistan. Therefore, the entire nation stands with its armed forces to safeguard the interests of Pakistan and the lives of the people,” he said.
The FO spokesperson added that with the “evidence-based and well-documented sharp rise in terrorism emanating from Afghanistan into Pakistan after August 2021, the Taliban regime can neither deny the reality nor absolve itself of its responsibility”.
He said that Pakistan remained committed to the resolution of bilateral differences through dialogue; however, Pakistan’s core concerns, i.e. terrorism emanating from Afghanistan, needed to be addressed “first and foremost.”
