ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has warned the UN Security Council of a serious threat of terrorism from Afghanistan and has emphasised that militant outfits with the potential to cause regional and global destabilisation were fast emerging.
Pakistan ambassador to the UN Munir Akram urged the global community to seriously consider the terrorist threat emanating from the Taliban-ruled country.
At a UNSC meeting on Afghanistan’s situation, the Pakistani envoy described the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as the largest terrorist organisation in the neighbouring country, which, according to him, carries out daily terrorist attacks against Pakistan with full support and protection of the Afghan interim govt and sponsorship of Pakistan’s major adversary.
Indicating the TTP’s potential to cause regional destabilisation, ambassador Akram said the terrorist group was “fast emerging as an umbrella organisation that is now coordinating with secessionist groups such as Majeed Brigade (in Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province).”
“And, given its long association with al-Qaeda, it will not be long before TTP becomes the spearhead for al-Qaeda’s planned regional and global terrorist goals,” Akram stated.
The diplomat added that Pakistan was ready to cooperate with regional and international organisations to eliminate the TTP threat and would continue to take national action against the terrorist organisation.
Hours later, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the international body was “particularly worried” about the penetration of militants from Afghanistan into Pakistan and called on Kabul not to allow its soil to be used by terror groups.
In June, Pakistan had announced plans to launch new military operations against terrorism in the country, specifically in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan, but the move was widely rejected by people in the two volatile provinces.