Terror incidents increased in Pakistan since Taliban came to power: Pak PM

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar said on Wednesday that there has been an increase in terror incidents in Pakistan since the Taliban came to power in 2021, Dawn reported.

Kakar linked the ongoing deportation drive of illegal immigrants to counter-terrorism actions, reported Dawn, a Pakistani English-language newspaper.

The Pakistan Caretaker Prime Minister, while addressing the media in Islamabad, said, "After the establishment of the interim Afghan government (Taliban) in August 2021, we had a strong hope that there would be long-term peace in Afghanistan. [...] Strict action would be taken against Pakistan-opposing groups, especially the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, and they would absolutely not be allowed to use Afghan soil against Pakistan."

"But unfortunately, after the establishment of the interim Afghan govt, there has been a 60 per cent increase in terror incidents and 500pc rise in suicide attacks in Pakistan," he said.

He further said: "In the past two years, 2,267 innocent citizens' lives have been lost to this tragic bloodshed, for which the terrorists of TTP are responsible who are conducting cowardly attacks on Pakistani using Afghan soil."

"During this time, 15 Afghan citizens were also among the people involved in suicide attacks. Other than this, till now, 64 Afghan citizens were killed while fighting Pakistan's law enforcement agencies during the counterterrorism campaign," he added.

Kakar did not provide any further details about the alleged involvement of Afghan nationals in any specific terror attack.

His statement comes after the country witnessed a sharp rise in terror incidents during the past week, including at Mianwali Training Air Base claimed by the Tehreek-i-Jihad Pakistan and an ambush in Gwadar claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Front, while no group claimed responsibility for attacks in Dera Ismail Khan, as per Dawn. Kakar went on to recall that the above details were in the knowledge of the Taliban.

The premier said that according to a monitoring report released in July this year by the United Nations, there was "clear mention of TTP centres in Afghanistan and increase in its activities against Pakistan".

The prime minister added that even after reassurances from the Afghan government of taking action against the TTP, "no actions were taken against anti-Pakistan groups". "Instead, in a few instances, clear evidence of enabling terrorism also came forward," he said without providing further details, as per Dawn.