Bilawal asserts international community to eliminate TTP in Afghanistan

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday said the determination of the international community is necessary to eliminate the so-called Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other terrorist organizations operating from Afghanistan.

According to the 24News HD TV channel, the foreign minister addressed a ceremony held to mark the 8th anniversary of the Army Public School (APS) tragedy in New York on Friday.

The event hosted by Pakistan was held as part of the UN’s Office of Counter Terrorism’s “Remembrance of the Victims of Terrorism” campaign at the UN Headquarters.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday said unfortunately, the so-called Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has found safe havens across the border.

Bilawal said in his speech to the gathering in New York that 132 children, 8 teachers, and staff members of the school were martyred in the terror attack.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto said the so-called Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the terror attack at the school.

He said Pakistan cleared its soil of the terrorists by conducting a successful operation against them.

Bilawal said that Pakistan would not tolerate cross-border terrorism by the TTP or other terrorist groups like BLA and will take direct action as the country reserved the right to take direct action against them.

He said the TTP, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), and other terrorist groups are receiving financial and other support from hostile quarters. So, he added that they reserve the right to take direct action against these terror elements.

PPP Chairman Bilawal said the TTP’s terrorist attack at APS was particularly heinous and targeted because the clear aim of the terrorists was to kill children. 

Foreign Minister Bilawal said instead, the shock of the APS massacre mobilized the Pakistani nation and motivated it to eliminate all terrorists from their soil as massive military operations were undertaken to cleanse the frontiers of the TTP and associated terrorist groups.

Bilawal said Pakistan paid a heavy price for terror attacks as 80,000 civilians and soldiers were killed or injured and the economy was set back by US$120 billion.

However, Bilawal said unfortunately the TTP and some other terrorist groups found “safe havens” and even more frequent attacks have been conducted against Pakistan’s military and civilian targets.

The foreign minister said the brutal nature of the TTP, its callous targeting of children in the APS attack, and other crimes should also reinforce the world community’s determination to combat and defeat the TTP, along with other terrorist organizations, like ISIL-K, operating in Afghanistan.

PPP Chairman Bilawal said Pakistan’s intelligence agencies had “solid proof” of financial and organizational support and direction provided to the TTP and they have also shared a comprehensive dossier with the Secretary-General and the Security Council containing concrete evidence of such external support to the TTP and other terrorist groups operating against Pakistan.

The foreign minister said Pakistan had expected that the new authorities in Kabul would be able to convince or constrain the TTP from conducting cross-border terrorist attacks against Pakistan as they had promised to do in the Doha Agreement and in subsequent policy declarations.

He said the TTP seems to have been emboldened to declare a “war” against Pakistan and its attacks have intensified.

Bilawal expressed the hope that the remembrance of the APS attack would serve to mobilize the UN’s counter-terrorism machinery to address the threat of terrorism which presently emanated from Afghanistan and adjacent regions in a comprehensive and effective manner.

He commented and assured Pakistan’s support to the UN and the international community in realizing the said objectives.

He said there is a need to eliminate the “safe havens” of these terrorists, to cut off the sources of their financing and sponsorship, and to hold accountable individuals and entities responsible for the terrorist attacks or for sponsoring and financing such attacks. 

The foreign minister also read out the last word of APS Principal Tahira Qazi “They are my children and I am their mother” she uttered before being burnt alive by the terrorists in front of her pupils as she struggled to protect them. 

He also showed the picture of a student Sher Shah Khattak who sacrificed his life while trying to save his classmates. 

The foreign minister told the gathering that he had also lost his mother in a terrorist attack carried out by the same terrorist organization.