Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, has urged the Taliban government in Kabul to put an end to “all forms of terrorism activities” that posed a threat from Afghan soil to Pakistan and other neighboring nations.
“There is [… ] a reasonable ask from the global local area, which is for Afghanistan to shut down all types of movement of fear monger associations that from Afghanistan address a danger to adjoining nations, including Pakistan,” he said while talking at a UN press preparation in New York on Monday.
“We are actively engaged in our discussions with the Taliban de facto authorities in relation to this,” he added.
He added, “We consider that it is absolutely essential for the Taliban not to allow any form of terrorist activity that might have an impact in relation to Pakistan, as in relation to any other country in the region.” This applies to both Pakistan and other countries in the region.
The UN chief made the statement in response to a question from a correspondent from Pakistan’s state-run news agency APP about how the Afghan rulers failed to stop the militant Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other terrorist groups from attacking Pakistan across the border.
In this regard, he specifically mentioned the Sunday terrorist attack on a police station in Lakki Marwat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, that resulted in the deaths of four police officers and the injuries of several others.
Hours after the attack, militants held at a facility run by the Counter Terrorism Department of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police in Bannu took over the building, took the interrogators hostage, and demanded safe passage to either North Waziristan or South Waziristan.
The attack has been attributed to the TTP.
According to reports, negotiations for the release of the hostages have not progressed, and the situation in Bannu remains tense, with the facility under militant control as of this morning.
These incidents are just two of many others that point to the larger problem of an increase in terrorism and a decline in peace in the country, particularly KP, following the end of a ceasefire between the government and TTP at the end of November.
During the briefing on Monday, Guterres talked about the rise in terrorism and a few other “clear things that we believe the Taliban must deliver from the point of view of the interests of the international community and from the point of view of the interests of Afghanistan itself,” among other things.
The head of the United Nations said that the Afghan Taliban must perform in order to be included in Afghanistan’s power structures.
“It’s important that all ethnic groups are represented because we have various ethnic groups.”
“A second aspect in relation to human rights, in particular women and girls’ rights, the right of women to work, the right of girls to attend school at all levels without discrimination,” he continued.
Floods in Pakistan
Guterres was also asked to elaborate on how the UN intended to mobilise support for post-flood reconstruction in Pakistan at an international conference in Geneva on January 9.
He said in response that he was “totally committed to do everything possible to mobilise the international community to support Pakistan”.
He recalled he had visited Pakistan immediately after the floods and was “dramatically impressed by what I’ve seen, three times the area of my own country flooded, terrible loss of crops and of animals and of houses and of life, for the population of Sindh and Balochistan and absolutely devastating situation”.
“I believe the international community has a strong responsibility to support Pakistan which has contributed in a very minimal way to climate change.
“There is a huge responsibility of the international community to support Pakistan in relation to the conference that we’ll have [on] January 9 … to fully mobilise the resources that are needed,” he stressed.
Guterres said he was also in contact with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
“There, hopefully, will be also, from these two institutions, meaningful action. And the Pakistani people deserve and need a strong expression of international solidarity,” he emphasised.
Source: Dawn News
