Demands Taliban interim govt to also take action against TTP hideouts n Says concerns shared with US, West about American weapons sale in black market n PM Kakar arrives in Tashkent to attend ECO summit.

ISLAMABAD/ TASHKENT   -  Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar- ul-Haq Kakar has demanded of the interim government of Afghanistan to hand over the Pakistani nationals who were illegally residing in Afghanistan and were involved in terrorist activities against their own country.

Addressing a press conference here at the PM House yesterday, before his departure to Tashkent, the prime minister said the government was ready to receive and accept any such illegal Pakistanis. Kakar also asked the Afghan government to take action against the hideouts of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its training centres in Afghanistan and ensure that “they must not be used against Pakistan”.

Since the interim government took to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, he said, Pakistan witnessed an increase in terrorist incidents by 60 percent besides a 500 percent surge in suicide blasts.

“Pakistan in last two years has lost lives of 2,867 innocent civilians, for which TTP is responsible which is operating from Afghanistan,” he said.

He mentioned that 15 Afghan nationals were found involved in suicide bombings in Pakistan, while 64 Afghans got killed during their fight against the Pakistani law enforcement agencies. He also said Afghan authorities were cognizant of these facts as Pakistan had been sharing these details with them since February this year through the fortnightly memorandums of protest. The monitoring team of the United Nations in its report released this July had clearly highlighted that TTP centres based in Afghanistan were conducting terrorist operations against Pakistan.

Asked if Pakistan itself would take action against the TTP hideouts in Afghanistan, Kakar said, “We are hopeful that they [Afghan government] will take an action themselves, which is in their own interest and also in our interest.”

On the military equipment left behind since the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, he said Pakistan had been repeatedly raising concerns with the United States and the Western countries about its implications and its sale in the black market. The PM’s remarks came a after the US State Department denied leaving any equipment behind by American forces during the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

“We are aware of the reports of multiple attacks on Pakistani security forces and facilities earlier in November and we offer our condolences to the families of the victims, but I want to be very clear about this: There was no equipment left behind by American forces during the withdrawal from Afghanistan,” US State Department’s Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said during a news briefing.

The PM also pointed out that there was no clue about the ammunition that was in the possession of the Afghan military comprising 150,000 personnel, and which just “disappeared” after the US withdrawal. 

He said Pakistan had taken the right decision against illegal foreigners after the Afghan interim government showed no cooperation in containing the terrorists attacking Pakistan. He said there is no foreign pressure on Pakistan to halt repatriation of Afghan citizens residing illegally in Pakistan. 

“Neither there is any pressure nor any country can demand or dictate Pakistan on any issue,” he said.

 Kakar said sending 250,000 illegal people back to their country in a short span was “not an ordinary step and showed the sign that the policy would be implemented successfully”. On maintaining a balance in relations with Afghanistan in the wake of actions against illegal residents, he hoped that the ties would be improved after the two sides settled their approach and expectations on various matters.

He said the immigrant policy was not meant to target the Pakistani Pashtuns and warned that those involved in the misuse of the decision would be severely punished. Any discrimination on the basis of ethnicity would not be tolerated, he added.

On the status of Afghans who fled to Pakistan after the Taliban took over and awaited relocation to the US and Western countries under the US Special Visa Immigration (SIV) scheme, he said Pakistan was in touch with the countries of their destination and had the necessary database about them.

“They are on temporary and a stopgap arrangement... We have no objection about them, but we want the countries of their destination to ensure a timeline for their relocation,” he said. He dismissed the notion that any country including the United States could ‘pressurize’ Pakistan on that matter and said, “Instead of this the ‘requests’ shall be made between the governments.” He said Pakistan was ready to negotiate the relocation mechanism and would facilitate the process, however, stressed that “We will not allow them to live here and they have to leave.” Asked about the reports of clandestine activities of the persons awaiting SIVs in Pakistan, the prime minister said Pakistan’s intelligence agencies were vigilant and were doing their job very professionally. “They have the will and the capacity to identify and neutralize the terrorists who are determined to continue their fight against the State of Pakistan,” he said.

PM Kakar said Pakistan had the legal and ethical right to send back illegal foreigners and mentioned that there were 1.4 million Afghan refugees currently residing in the country who were registered via the ‘Proof of Residence’ card. The government registered another 0.8 million under the Afghan citizen card and the persons would not be deported, he said.

Later, the PM Kakar arrived in Tashkent to attend the 16th ECO Summit. 

After arrival, Kakar held a meeting with President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, on the sidelines of the ECO being held in Tashket.The bilateral ties were discussed in a bilateral meeting. Both the sides, reiterated the resolve to finalize the Strategic Partnership Agreement at the earliest to promote regional economic integration. They also reaffirmed their commitment to play an active role for the regional connectivity. The leaders exchanged views on deepening bilateral cooperation in a range of areas including political, trade, economic, security, defence, and connectivity. Expressing satisfaction at the growing level of bilateral cooperation, Prime Minister Kakar stressed the importance of sustaining the momentum.

He underlined that the recent operationalization of Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) and Transit Trade Agreement (UPTTA) would boost bilateral trade and transit trade in addition to streamlining Economic Cooperation Organization Trade Agreement (ECOTA). They reaffirmed commitment to the early completion of Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan railway project. Prime Minister Kakar and President Mirziyoyev discussed on the ongoing humanitarian situation in Gaza and other regional and global developments.