RAWALPINDI – DG ISPR Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry has said that if the Afghan Taliban do not stop supporting terrorism in Pakistan, they will have to pay a heavy price.
In an interview given to the international media, Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said India is the biggest sponsor of terrorism in Pakistan, while the Afghan Taliban regime is working as India’s proxy.
He said the terrorist organisations Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) are also Indian proxies against Pakistan, and that the Afghan Taliban are using non-state actors and mercenaries for their malicious purposes.
The military spokesman said Afghanistan is still under the influence of non-state actors and is run by a regime. He said that after the Russian intervention in Afghanistan, several intelligence agencies and proxy groups established deep roots there, and that international terrorist organisations such as Jaish al-Adl, Al-Qaeda and Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) are also present in the country. He added that the United Nations, the United States and several other countries have also pointed to these facts.
Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said Pakistan’s only demand of the Afghan Taliban is that they stop supporting terrorists inside Pakistan. He said the Afghan Taliban regime has given shelter to terrorists such as Noor Wali Mehsud, Bashir Zeb and Gul Bahadur, that terrorist formations for attacks in Pakistan come from Afghanistan, and that weapons are also supplied from there.
The DG ISPR warned that if the Afghan Taliban regime does not accept Pakistan’s concerns and demands regarding terrorism, it will have to pay a heavy price.
He said the Afghan Taliban regime has no credibility internationally, and that the international community should compel it to behave like a normal state.
The army spokesman urged the international community to also pressure the Afghan Taliban to stop the cultivation and production of narcotics.
Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry made it clear that Pakistan’s armed forces are fully capable of effectively countering and preventing all threats emanating from Afghanistan, including drone attacks.
