Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: What goes around, come around. The way India used to send a list of terrorists to Pakistan with a request to hand them over, now Islamabad has also sent a list of its own ‘terrorists’ to the Taliban, requesting it, similarly, to hand them over!
Islamabad’s terrorists are members of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who operate from neighboring Afghanistan to launch terror attacks inside Pakistan.
Pakistan shared the list of their names with Taliban chief Haibatullah Akhundzada after the Islamist militia took control of Kabul recently, The Express Tribune reported.
Soon after capturing Kabul, the Taliban released nearly 2,300 TTP members from jails, including its deputy chief Faqir Mohammad. They felicitated the Afghan Taliban for capturing Kabul and pledged allegiance to Akhundzada, The Diplomat reported.
He was reported to have set up a three-member commission to investigate Pakistan’s claim that the TTP was using Afghanistan’s soil to plot cross-border terrorist attacks. The panel, according to the Voice of America, has asked the TTP members to settle their problems with Islamabad and return home along with their families in exchange for a possible amnesty by the Pakistani government.
Islamabad is seeking action against TTP and its affiliates have already initiated talks with the terror group, the paper said.
“We have taken up the issue with them (Taliban). We have given them a list of wanted TTP terrorists operating from Afghanistan,” a senior Pakistani official, familiar with the development, told the media.
He said Pakistan expected the Taliban to take action against the TTP. Islamabad sought action against the TTP chief and its other top commanders.
The media reports, however, ruled out the possibility of Pakistan accepting any TTP demands, insisting the amnesty would be offered in line with the country’s Constitution and law, which would require the militants to surrender their weapons.
According to the February 2020 deal between the Taliban and the US in Doha, the group cannot permit regional or transnational terrorist groups to use Afghan soil to threaten global security. The Taliban has claimed that it will not allow Afghan soil to be used for any terrorist activities.
“This concern is legitimate, and our policy is clear that we will not allow anyone to use the soil of Afghanistan against any neighboring country, including Pakistan. So, they should not have any concern,” Afghan Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen told the media.
Neither the TTP nor any other terrorist groups will have any place in our country and that’s a clear message to all, he said.
But the Taliban are not exactly known to keep their word!