ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Foreign Office has said that many terrorist groups based in the region including in Afghanistan, such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its associates like Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) have been responsible for extreme acts of violence against Pakistani people.
“We are deeply concerned at the presence of groups like Daesh, ETIM (East Turkmenistan Islamic Movement and IMU (Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) in the ungoverned spaces in Afghanistan as they pose a threat to peace and security in the region,” the Foreign Office Spokesman Nafees Zakaria said in Islamabad on Tuesday in response to a question regarding the BRICS’ leaders summit document.
The recent three-day Summit of BRICS – having representation of Russia, China, India, South Africa and Brazil; and held in the Chinese City of Xiamen – had said that militant groups allegedly based in Pakistan posed a regional security concern.
The Spokesperson said that Pakistan is also seriously concerned about the threat posed by terrorism and extremism in the South Asian region.
Zakaria further said that Pakistan also remains concerned at the rise of extremist ideologies and intolerance in the region encouraging social stratification and systematic targeting of minorities.
Earlier in the day, the Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir also categorically rejected the notion as claimed by BRICS leaders that Pakistan had been sheltering any terror outfit.
