The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday confirmed that Pakistan had carried out an intelligence-based operation against terrorists in “border areas based on threats to Pakistani citizens’ security”, referring to an airstrike conducted on Tuesday night.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been strained due to frequent border skirmishes and Islamabad repeatedly demanding Kabul to take action against the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for using Afghan soil to launch attacks in Pakistan. Kabul denies the allegations.
The FO spokesperson’s statement — the first formal word by the government on the matter — comes after Pakistan carried out air strikes in the neighbouring country on Tuesday, which security officials said targeted several suspected terrorists.
Pakistan’s security officials late on Tuesday night had said that fighter jets bombed four locations, said to be TTP camps, in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province, targeting and neutralising several suspected terrorists.
Subsequently, the Afghan Taliban regime lodged a strong protest with Islamabad over an airstrike, warning that Afghanistan’s territorial sovereignty was the red line for the ruling Islamic Emirate.
Responding to queries during a media briefing in Islamabad today, FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch confirmed: “Pakistan is united for its people. Pakistan conducted an operation in Afghanistan’s border areas.
“The intelligence-based operation was conducted by Pakistan in Afghanistan’s border areas,” Baloch specified, adding that it was carried out “based on threats to the security of Pakistani citizens”.
However, the official stressed that Pakistan had “always prioritised dialogue in matters relating to ties with Afghanistan”.
“We respect Afghanistan’s integrity and sovereignty,” she asserted.
Baloch noted that Pakistan’s security forces and law enforcement agencies routinely conduct operations “against terrorist groups in the border areas”. “Preparations for these operations are made in an extremely careful manner,” she highlighted.
Stating that protecting its citizens was Pakistan’s top priority, the FO spokesperson reiterated that there were “threats posed by terrorist elements to Pakistan and its citizens”.
“Pakistan is committed to the security of its public,” Baloch said.
More to follow
