ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday condemned the use of Afghan soil to execute terror attacks against Pakistan a day after a Frontier Corps (FC) troop embraced martyrdom in a cross-border militant attack.
According to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), terrorists inside Afghanistan fired across the international border on a military post in Mohmand tribal district resulting in the death of 25-year-old Fazal Wahid.
The military’s media wing further said the Pakistan Army troops responded promptly to the attack.
In a statement issued Thursday, FO spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri “strongly” condemned the attack as well as the “use of Afghan soil by terrorists for activities against Pakistan”.
Chaudhri further called on Kabul “to take immediate action against the terrorists and terrorist groups finding sanctuaries in Afghanistan to target Pakistani security forces”.
In recent months, the military has been fortifying the 2,400 km-long frontier – mostly running along deserted high-mountain terrain – with nine-foot chain-link fences topped with barbed wire to stop incursions. Kabul opposes Islamabad’s plans for a barrier along the Durand Line, one of the most dangerous international crossings, and denies granting a safe haven to militants despite strong evidence.
Plans for the fencing have been in motion for the past 15 years, but work on the fence is more recent, having started over the past two years. “We already finished 1,000km and it’s likely going to take another two or three years to complete the rest,” Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan said in 2019.
Islamabad has pinned the blame on the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), based on Afghan soil, for a spate of militant attacks at home over the past year, urging Kabul to eradicate “sanctuaries” for militants.
