Taliban will not allow any group to use Afghan soil against Pakistan: Sheikh Rashid

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said on Saturday that the Afghan Taliban have guaranteed that no militant group would be allowed to operate against Pakistan.

While addressing a press conference in Islamabad, the minister said that the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had made some demands during the talks that were unacceptable.

"If they accept Pakistan's constitution and laws, our doors are still open," he said while referring to the possibility of resumption of talks with the TTP.

Pakistan's government announced late last year it had entered a month-long truce with the TTP, facilitated by Afghanistan's Taliban, but that expired on December 9 after peace talks failed to make progress.

The minister added that Pakistan has not held talks with Daish or the Baloch Nationalist Army (BNA), the group which claimed responsibility for the Lahore bomb blast on Thursday.

Need to be very alert after terrorist attack in Islamabad: Sheikh Rashid

"BNA is a small group," he said, adding that culprits of the Lahore blast will be apprehended soon.

He noted that militant attacks in Pakistan have grown in the last three months. "These attacks cannot break our resolve to tackle militancy."

Earlier this week, Rashid had said that there was a need to stay alert of terrorism-related incidents. "We have received a kind of signal that terrorist incidents have started happening in Islamabad. This is the first incident of the year and we need to be very alert," he said.

Investigation into Lahore bomb blast underway: Sheikh Rashid

Talking about Afghanistan, the minister said the current atmosphere in the country is not against Pakistan. "NDS and RAW were defeated in Afghanistan.

"Taliban have defeated some 42 international forces that were fighting against them in Afghanistan."

He asked the opposition parties to delay their March 23 rally in Islamabad as many leaders of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) were coming to Pakistan to participate in the Pakistan Day Parade.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said earlier this month that a meeting of the OIC will be held on March 22 in Islamabad.

"We will celebrate our 75th Pakistan Day with our brothers and the OIC Foreign Ministers Council will attend the March 23 parade as a guest,” said Qureshi.