Army asks Kabul to hand over 76 terrorists

Pakistan Army Friday asked the Afghan government to handover 76 "most wanted" terrorists, who are hiding in Afghanistan, by summoning Afghan Embassy officials to General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. According to Major General Asif Ghafoor, the spokesperson for Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Afghan Embassy officials were called in to the GHQ and handed over a list of the 76 terrorists, hiding in Afghanistan.
"Afg [Afghan] Embassy officials called in the GHQ. Given list of 76 Ts [terrorists] hiding in Afg [Afghanistan]. Asked to take immediate action / be handed over to Pakistan," General Ghafoor stated in a tweet on Twitter. In a statement later, he said that as directed by the Chief of Army Staff, a number of steps have been taken in response to the terror attacks that also include handing over a list of 76 terrorists to the Afghan authorities who have been hiding across since long and planning, directing and supporting terrorist activities in Pakistan. He further said that the Afghan government has been asked to target the terrorists/handover them to Pakistan.
"Army is for security of people of Pakistan against all types of threats. The nation will stay steadfast with full confidence in their security forces...We shall not let the hostile agenda succeed whatever it may cost," the CoAS was quoted by the spokesperson as having said.
According to him, terrorist hideouts on Pakistan-Afghan border have been effectively targeted. He further said that intelligence based operations and combing operations are in progress across the country including Punjab. "Over 100 terrorists have been killed since last night and sizeable apprehensions also made...intelligence agencies are making progress to unearth networks behind recent terror incidents...outcome will be shared," he added.
He pointed out that there are linkages of support for these incidents from across the border and the border has been closed since last night due to security reasons. "No cross border/unauthorised entry will be allowed to Pakistan from Afghanistan. The security forces have been given special orders in this regard to have strict watch all along the border," he added.
The ISPR spokesperson further said that in wake of recent upsurge in terrorist incidents in the country, search and combing operations in areas of district Rawalpindi have been enhanced and security apparatus has been put on high alert. A conference chaired by Commander Rawalpindi Corps and attended by high-ups of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) was held on Friday to take a stock of security situation and review the response mechanism to deal with the terrorists' threat, he added.
He said that security forces and intelligence agencies have been instructed to further intensify combing and targeted operations with the aim to eliminate terrorists and their sleeper cells. Following the recent surge in terror attacks, Pakistan closed border crossings at Torkham, Chaman and Angoor Adda for all sorts of traffic with a view to stop entry of terrorists from Afghanistan.