ISLAMABAD/KABUL – The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has threatened Pakistan with attacks on key leaders of the country, accusing them of appeasing the West, especially the United States.
Almost a month after calling off the ceasefire, the terror group has threatened to attack top leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) who discussed action against the TTP at a recent meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC).
Pakistan’s top civil and military leaders announced recently they will deal with the terror group with full force. The group led by Noor Mehsud has explicitly threatened Pakistan with attacks on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
In a statement, TTP, which is taking shelter in neighbouring Afghanistan and is on good terms with Kabul, cautioned the masses to avoid getting close to these leaders. The group maintained that everybody is aware that their prime target is the security agencies.
Recalling the recent years for not waging war against mainstream politicians, TTP said “unfortunately, Bilawal gave Washington mother’s status to get mother’s love”. It maintained that the PPP chairman is still young and has not yet witnessed the “state of war”.
Addressing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the group said the PML-N leader pushed the entire party into this war by going against them, just to please America.
The group refrained from naming any religious leaders, saying there was no scope for action against them, but called on them to stop their activities.
TTP thanks Pakistani delegation for Afghanistan visit but ‘is not tired of Jihad’
Earlier, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had said that Pakistan could target the terror group’s sanctuaries in Afghanistan’s border regions if Afghan Taliban fail to take action against them.
He however took a different line this time and said that Islamabad would continue efforts to hold peace talks with the TTP and called upon the militants to lay down their arms first.
Afghan Taliban hits back at Pakistan’s Interior Minister over TTP statement