UNSC panel terms Afghan-backed TTP serious threat to Pakistan security

• TTP enjoys Taliban support as attacks intensify: Denmark.
• China backs UN listing of BLA, Majeed Brigade as terror groups.
• Pakistan says it sacrificed heavily fighting terrorism for decades.

The head of the UN Security Council’s Daesh and Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee has backed Pakistan’s position that Afghan territory is being used to stage terrorist attacks in the country, warning that the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) poses a serious threat to the regional security.

Denmark’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Sandra Jensen Landi — in the capacity of the committee’s chair — presented a report to the UNSC, stating that the terrorist group has conducted numerous high-profile attacks in Pakistan from Afghan soil, some of which incurred mass casualties.

She said that the TTP, with its approximately 6,000 fighters, is a serious threat emanating from the region, receiving both logistical and substantial support from the “de facto” authorities.

Landi made that statement as the 15-member Council was briefed by the heads of three of its subsidiary bodies — which relate to Daesh/Al-Qaeda, UN counter-terrorism efforts and measures to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to non-State actors — hearing that the threat posed by terrorism continues to evolve, especially in Africa, as malign actors exploit new technologies to pursue dangerous ends.

Islamabad and Kabul are witnessing heightened tensions amid the Afghan Taliban regime’s reluctance to act against terrorist groups operating from its soil, in the backdrop of rising terror attacks in Pakistan.

Commenting on the report, Pakistan’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Usman Jadoon, said the country has rendered invaluable sacrifices in its efforts to eradicate this menace, with over 80,000 casualties and billions of dollars in economic losses.

Al-Qaeda, he added, was decimated largely due to Pakistan’s efforts.

“Our valiant security forces and law enforcement agencies continue to counter the terrorism threat emanating from Afghanistan where entities like ISIL-K, TTP and its affiliates, BLA (Balochistan Liberation Army) and its Majeed Brigade are thriving under the patronage of their hosts and backed by our principle adversary and net destabiliser in the region,” he said, without naming India.

Ambassador Jadoon said that the 1267 Committee’s sanctions regime must “reflect ground realities”, and that listing and delisting issues must be dealt with “in a fair, transparent and judicious manner and without political considerations”.

The Pakistani envoy also stressed that, to adopt a zero-tolerance approach, the UN’s counter-terrorism architecture “must also possess the necessary tools to designate violent, far-right, extreme right-wing, ultranationalist, xenophobic and Islamophobic groups around the world”.

Separately, the representative of China, urged members of the committee to support the listing of the Balochistan Liberation Army and its Majeed Brigade, “sending a strong signal of zero-tolerance for terrorism

Islamabad-Kabul tensions

The tensions between the two neighbouring nations escalated when the Taliban forces and India-backed TTP, also known as Fitna al-Khawarij, resorted to an unprovoked attack on Pakistan on October 12.

The Pakistan Armed Forces gave a befitting response to the aggression, killing over 200 Afghan Taliban and affiliated militants in a self-defence action.

The military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said that 23 soldiers embraced martyrdom in the clashes with the Taliban forces and the terrorists.

Furthermore, the security forces also conducted “precision strikes” in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province and the capital Kabul, as well as in the border areas of North and South Waziristan districts, successfully destroying multiple strongholds in response to the aggression.

The two sides had agreed on a temporary ceasefire during the Doha talks on October 19 and later held several meetings in Istanbul, with Pakistan aiming to devise a mechanism to stop cross-border terrorism emanating from Afghan soil.

The Istanbul talks could not deliver the desired results due to stubbornness from the Afghan side, as Kabul used the Istanbul talks to malign Pakistan rather than address Islamabad’s core concern of terrorism emanating from Afghan soil.