<\/p>\n
The chair of the United Nations Security Council’s Daesh and Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee has cautioned that the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) poses a serious and growing threat to the region, noting that the group has carried out multiple high-profile attacks in Pakistan from Afghan territory, some resulting in mass casualties.<\/p>\n
Presenting a report to the Security Council, Denmark\u2019s Deputy Permanent Representative Sandra Jensen Landi said that the TTP \u2014 comprising roughly 6,000 fighters \u2014 remains a major regional danger, benefiting from both logistical and significant support from the \u201cde facto\u201d Afghan authorities.<\/p>\n
She said that the TTP, with its approximately 6,000 fighters, is a serious threat emanating from the region, receiving both logistical and substantial support from the "de facto” authorities.<\/p>\n
Landi made that statement as the 15-member Council was briefed by the heads of three of its subsidiary bodies \u2014 which relate to Daesh\/Al-Qaeda, UN counter-terrorism efforts and measures to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to non-State actors \u2014 hearing that the threat posed by terrorism continues to evolve, especially in Africa, as malign actors exploit new technologies to pursue dangerous ends.<\/p>\n
Islamabad and Kabul are witnessing heightened tensions amid the Afghan Taliban regime’s reluctance to act against terrorist groups operating from its soil, in the backdrop of rising terror attacks in Pakistan.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the report, Pakistan’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Usman Jadoon, said the country has rendered invaluable sacrifices in its efforts to eradicate this menace, with over 80,000 casualties and billions of dollars in economic losses.<\/p>\n
Al-Qaeda, he added, was decimated largely due to Pakistan’s efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur valiant security forces and law enforcement agencies continue to counter the terrorism threat emanating from Afghanistan where entities like ISIL-K, TTP and its affiliates, BLA (Balochistan Liberation Army) and its Majeed Brigade are thriving under the patronage of their hosts and backed by our principle adversary and net destabiliser in the region,” he said, without naming India.<\/p>\n
Ambassador Jadoon said that the 1267 Committee\u2019s sanctions regime must \u201creflect ground realities\u201d, and that listing and delisting issues must be dealt with \u201cin a fair, transparent and judicious manner and without political considerations\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Pakistani envoy also stressed that, to adopt a zero-tolerance approach, the UN\u2019s counter-terrorism architecture \u201cmust also possess the necessary tools to designate violent, far-right, extreme right-wing, ultranationalist, xenophobic and Islamophobic groups around the world\u201d.<\/p>\n
Separately, the representative of China, urged members of the committee to support the listing of the Balochistan Liberation Army and its Majeed Brigade, \u201csending a strong signal of zero-tolerance for terrorism<\/p>\n
The tensions between the two neighbouring nations escalated when the Taliban forces and India-backed TTP, also known as Fitna al-Khawarij, resorted to an unprovoked attack on Pakistan on October 12.<\/p>\n
The Pakistan Armed Forces gave a befitting response to the aggression, killing over 200 Afghan Taliban and affiliated militants in a self-defence action.<\/p>\n
The military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said that 23 soldiers embraced martyrdom in the clashes with the Taliban forces and the terrorists.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the security forces also conducted \u201cprecision strikes\u201d in Afghanistan\u2019s Kandahar province and the capital Kabul, as well as in the border areas of North and South Waziristan districts, successfully destroying multiple strongholds in response to the aggression.<\/p>\n
The two sides had agreed on a temporary ceasefire during the Doha talks on October 19 and later held several meetings in Istanbul, with Pakistan aiming to devise a mechanism to stop cross-border terrorism emanating from Afghan soil.<\/p>\n
The Istanbul talks could not deliver the desired results due to stubbornness from the Afghan side, as Kabul used the Istanbul talks to malign Pakistan rather than address Islamabad’s core concern of terrorism emanating from Afghan soil.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n