Pakistan’s Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, has described India as the largest backer of terrorist violence inside Pakistan. He also accused the Afghan Taliban government of acting as an Indian proxy.
In an interview with a foreign news agency, he said the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) were also operating as Indian proxies against Pakistan. He said Islamabad wanted the Afghan Taliban to stop backing militants who operate inside Pakistan.
Allegations over militant groups in Afghanistan
Chaudhry said the Afghan Taliban used hired fighters to pursue what he called their nefarious objectives, and that non-state actors were still running Afghanistan. He said several agencies and proxies had put down roots there after Russian intervention, and that Jaish al-Adl, Al-Qaeda and Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) were also present.
He added that the United Nations and the United States had also pointed to terrorist groups in Afghanistan. He alleged that the Afghan Taliban had sheltered militants including Noor Wali Mehsud, Bashir Zeb and Gul Bahadur. According to him, terrorist formations crossed from Afghanistan into Pakistan and obtained weapons there.
Warning to the Afghan Taliban and calls for action
“If the Taliban regime does not listen to us on terrorism, it will have to pay a serious price,” he warned. He said the Afghan Taliban regime had no credibility at the international level, and urged the international community to compel it to behave like a normal state.
He also called on the international community to press the Afghan Taliban to halt the cultivation and production of drugs.
Military capability to counter threats, drones included
The DG ISPR said the Pakistan Armed Forces had the capability to counter all threats from the Afghan regime, including drones.
