UNITED NATIONS, Mar 17(Kamran Raja): As the 15-member UN Security Council passed a resolution extending the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan’s (UNAMA) term by one year, Pakistan urged the international community and the Council to make combating terrorism in and out of Afghanistan “a matter of priority” on Monday. Ambassador Munir Akram explained his vote on the resolution to the Security Council by saying, “The Taliban government has not been effective in eliminating ISIS/Daesh; it has tolerated several other terrorist groups and is complicit in the cross-border attacks against Pakistan by the TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan), together with the BLA (Balochistan Liberation Army) and its Majeed Brigade.”
China and Pakistan circulated the first text of the resolution, which was unanimously adopted. The Pakistani envoy brought attention to last week’s terrible attack on a passenger train in the country’s Balochistan province by the BLA and Majeed Brigade, in which the terrorists killed 25 innocent people and held hundreds of hostages, while also referring to ongoing cross-border attacks from Afghan territory. In a daring rescue effort, Pakistani special forces killed thirty-three terrorists, he added. “Throughout the attack, the terrorists were in direct contact with their ‘handlers’ in Afghanistan, from where the attack was planned and directed,” the ambassador informed the attendees.
“We also have evidence that this attack was initiated and financed by our principal adversary, using its proxies in Afghanistan” . The train attack and previous terrorist attacks against Pakistan, according to the Pakistani envoy, were obviously intended to destabilise the country, especially to impede China-Pakistan collaboration and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’s implementation. The Council members had “underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers, and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and to bring them to justice,” he said, adding that he was grateful for the UNSC’s strong press statement on the attack against the “Jaffar Express.” He also urged all States to “cooperate actively” with Pakistan in order to achieve this goal. Pakistan, Ambassador Akram said, was also gratified that today’s resolution that expressed “serious concern over the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan” and further reaffirmed its “demand that the territory of Afghanistan should not be used to threaten or attack any country, to plan or finance terrorist acts, or to shelter and train terrorists” and “that no Afghan group or individual should support terrorists operating on the territory of any country”. The resolution called on the Taliban to take active measures to combat terrorism.
The Security Council and its Counter-Terrorism machinery must also take “active measures” to secure implementation of the Secueity Council’s decisions to address the challenge of terrorism within and from Afghanistan, particularly from ISIL-K, Al-Qaida, the TTP, BLA and the Majeed Brigade, the Pakistani envoy said. “These terrorist organizations pose a serious threat to peace and security in Afghanistan, in the region and globally. Pakistan will propose some concrete steps to enable the United Nations to achieve these Counter-terrorism objectives,” Ambassador Akram said in conclusion.