—— Islamabad to take ‘drastic and decisive’ actions against group involved in attack
—— Pledges all out war against millitants
—— Demands Afghanistan hand over terrorists involved in attacks
—— Delivers strong demarche to Afghanistan’s top envoy, calls for condemnation
By Asghar Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is contemplating a serious retaliation in response to today’s terrorist attack in Dera Ismail Khan, the deadliest against security forces in years, resulting in the martyrdom of two doz-en soldiers.
If official sources are to be believed, Pakistan is likely to take some “drastic and decisive” actions against the terrorist group involved in the attack.
“Pakistan will not let go the perpetrators of this heinous attack unpunished,” a source familiar with the development told The Express Tribune on Tuesday. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), earlier in the day, stated that a group of six terrorists attacked a security forces’ check post in the Daraban general area in the early hours of Tuesday.
“The attempt to enter the post was effectively thwarted which forced the terrorists to ram an explosive-laden vehicle into the post, followed by a suicide bombing attack,” according to the military’s media wing.
“The resulting blasts led to the collapse of the building, causing multiple casualties; 23 brave soldiers embraced shahadat, while all six terrorists were effectively engaged and sent to hell,” the ISPR added. Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan (TJP), a group that only emerged on the scene in February this year, took responsibility of the DI Khan attack.
Observers speculate that the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) might be linked to the TJP, which is employing the strategy of utilising a hitherto unfamiliar group to mitigate potential repercus-sions. The attack in DI Khan happened despite Pakistan issuing a clear warning to the Afghan Taliban last month to rein in terrorist sanctuaries. The Afghan government was told following the Bannu attack that any future terrorist incident having links with the neighbouring country would invite a robust re-sponse from Pakistan.
Although Pakistan has kept mum over the possible options to avenge the DI Khan killings, sources said that cross-border strikes as well as drone attacks targeting the terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan are on the table.
Pakistan considers the latest attack a serious provocation and would make sure those who are behind it pay the price. Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Afghan government to take action against the TTP and its affiliates. Hours after the attack, the Foreign Secretary called in the Chargé d’Affaires (Cd’A) of the Afghan Interim Government (AIG) to deliver Pakistan’s strong demarche. “The attack, whose re-sponsibility has been claimed by Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, a terrorist group affiliated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), resulted in multiple causalities, including shahadat of twenty-three security personnel,” according to the Foreign Office statement.
The Cd’A of AIG was asked to immediately convey to the Afghan interim government to fully investi-gate and take stern action against perpetrators of the recent attack, publicly condemn the terrorist incident at the highest level, take immediate verifiable actions against all terrorist groups (including their leadership) and their sanctuaries, apprehend and handover the perpetrators of the attack and the TTP leadership in Afghanistan to the government of Pakistan and take all necessary measures to deny the persistent use of Afghan soil for terrorism against Pakistan.
“Today’s terrorist attack is yet another reminder of the terrorist threat to peace and stability in the re-gion. We must act resolutely with all our collective might to defeat this menace. On its part, Pakistan remains steadfast in its commitment to combat terrorism,’” the statement further said.
Earlier, The Foreign Office (FO) Tuesday demanded Afghanistan’s interim government investigate the deadly suicide attack in Dera Ismail Khan that martyred more than 20 soldiers.
At least 23 soldiers embraced martyrdom when militants rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a Pakistani military base, the army said, in an attack claimed by affiliates of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The suicide squad of six terrorists — all of whom were killed later — attacked the outpost in the DI Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province — near the Afghan border — in the early hours of Tuesday, the military’s media wing said in a statement.
In response, Foreign Secretary Syrus Sajjad Qazi summoned Afghanistan’s top diplomat in Islamabad to deliver Pakistan’s strong demarche.
“The attack[‘s] responsibility has been claimed by the Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, a terrorist group affili-ated with the TTP,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.
The statement mentioned that the envoy was asked to immediately convey to the Afghan interim government to fully investigate and take stern action against the perpetrators of the recent attack.
Qazi demanded that the Afghan government, while publicly condemning the terrorist incident at the highest level, take immediate verifiable actions against all terrorist groups — including their leadership — and their sanctuaries.
The foreign secretary further said the neighbouring nation should apprehend and hand over the per-petrators of the attack and the TTP leadership in Afghanistan to the Pakistani government.
“[They] should also take all necessary measures to deny the persistent use of Afghan soil for terrorism against Pakistan,” the statement mentioned.
The Foreign Office also said that the terrorist attack is yet another reminder of the terrorist threat to peace and stability in the region.
“We must act resolutely with all our collective might to defeat this menace. On its part, Pakistan re-mains steadfast in its commitment to combat terrorism.”
The army’s media wing said Dera Ismail Khan had “witnessed heightened activities” overnight and a total of 27 militants were killed in firefights with troops in the area.
Pakistan has witnessed a dramatic spike in militant attacks, mainly in its border regions with Afghani-stan, since the Taliban returned to power there in 2021.
The first half of 2023 saw a nearly 80% spike in attacks compared to last year, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.
Islamabad has time and again stated that hostile groups operate from “sanctuaries” across the border, however, the Taliban government routinely denies the charges.
The biggest threat to Pakistan is the TTP, which shares lineage and ideology with Kabul’s rulers.
In January, the TTP was linked to a mosque bombing that martyred more than 80 police officers inside a headquarters in Peshawar, the capital of KP.
