The armed forces of Pakistan have “serious concerns on the safe havens and liberty of action available to” the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan, the military’s media affairs wing said in a statement on Friday.
The Inter-Services Public Relations’ (ISPR) statement came following Chief of Army Staff Gen Asim Munir’s visit to Quetta Garrison where he was briefed on a recent attack on a military installation in Balochistan’s Zhob Cantt.
A total of nine soldiers were martyred in the attack that took place on Wednesday while security forces killed five terrorists in retaliatory action.
According to Zhob District Commissioner (DC) Azeem Kakar, a civilian woman was also killed in the incident after being caught in the crossfire while five other civilians were left injured.
The ISPR on Friday said, the army chief visited the soldiers injured in the attack at Combined Military Hospital, lauded their services and appreciated their resolve. He also paid “rich tributes” to the martyrs, the statement added.
In the statement, the military also expressed concern over the availability of “safe havens and liberty of action” to the TTP in Afghanistan and said, “It is expected that the interim Afghan government would not allow the use of its soil to perpetrate terror against any country, in the real sense and in line with commitments made in the Doha agreement”.
The ISPR statement also pointed to the involvement of Afghan nationals in incidents of terrorism in Pakistan.
“The involvement of Afghan nationals in acts of terrorism in Pakistan is another important concern that needs to be addressed. Such attacks are intolerable and would elicit an effective response from the security forces of Pakistan,” it read.
The statement added that “operations against terrorists would continue unabated and the armed forces shall not rest till the menace of terrorism is rooted out from the country”.
