Following recent skirmishes on the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif on March 20, 2024, warned that his government will not tolerate any cross-border terrorism. Addressing the first meeting of the apex committee since the new government came to power, Sharif said “We will not tolerate any kind of terrorism from across the border under no circumstances.”
“We want to exist in a very powerful environment with our neighbouring brothers, do trade, commerce, and expand our relations. But unfortunately, if a neighbour’s land is used for terrorism, then it is intolerable,” said Shabaz Sharif. In the early hours of March 19, 2024, Pakistan launched airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Khost and Paktika province as part of its intelligence based anti-terror operations.
According to the Taliban administration, the airstrikes killed eight people including children. The Pakistan Foreign Office said the airstrikes were aimed at Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group which recently targeted security forces in North Waziristan, killing eight soldiers. The Taliban quickly retaliated using heavy weapons and mortars to target Pakistani troops across the border in Kuram and North Waziristan.
Earlier this year, Pakistan conducted retaliatory strikes in Iran after the latter launched its attacks in Pakistan targeting what it described as bases for the militant group Jaish-e-Adl in the border town of Baluchistan’s Rangpur.
Pakistan has witnessed several upticks in terrorist activities especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan after the banned militant group Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan ended ceasefire in November 2022 and Taliban retook control of Kabul in 2021. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, Pakistan has witnessed 527 terror incidents last year, the highest since 2015. Nearly 400 civilians and 500 security personnel were killed in 2023.
According to an annual security report issued by the Centre for Research and Security Studies, a think-tank, Pakistan witnessed 1,524 violence related fatalities and 1,463 injuries from the terror attacks and counter terrorist operations in 2023 marking a six-year high record.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan were the primary centres of violence accounting for over 90 percent fatalities and 84 percent attacks including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations.
Recalling his visit to the family of an army officer killed in the terrorist attacks, Sharif quoted the father of 23-year-old Captain Ahmed Badar as saying, Prime Minister, terrorism must be eradicated. “I also told him that we cannot tolerate this terrorism anymore. Pakistan’s borders are a red line against terrorism,” the prime minister said.
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