Pakistan ruled out on Thursday talks with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), saying that it expects the Afghan authorities to take urgent action against the terrorist outfits and their leadership for the crimes they are committing in Pakistan.
Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said this while responding to media queries about the suggestion made by Muhammad Nabi Omari, deputy interior minister of the interim Taliban government, regarding talks between Pakistan and TTP.
“We ask the Government of Pakistan and advise the brothers (TTP) who are fighting with them to come together and talk,” Omari said.
She also said Pakistan remained committed to fighting against all terrorist outfits which had targeted Pakistan and the symbols of Pakistan-China friendship.
On March 26, a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a dam project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa killing six people the third major attack on Chinese interests in the South Asian country in a week.
The first two attacks hit a naval base and a strategic port in the southwest province of Balochistan where China is investing billions in infrastructure projects.
Meanwhile, in her briefing, Baloch said that Afghanistan was discussed at the 19th regular meeting of the secretaries of the security councils of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) held in Kazakhstan.
Last month, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that Pakistan does not want an armed conflict with Afghanistan, adding that “force was the last resort”.
In an interview with Voice of America, the defence minister said Pakistan could block the corridor it provided to Afghanistan for trade with India, adding that it had the right to stop facilitating Kabul if it failed to curb anti-Pakistan terrorists operating on Afghan soil.
“If Afghanistan treats us like an enemy, then why should we give them a trade corridor?” Asif said.
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