Daily Times

LAHORE: Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Asif Ghafoor said on Friday that the Peshawar terror strike’s admission by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan proves that the attack was orchestrated by terrorists based in Afghanistan.

“Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claiming the responsibility for the attack is a proof that it was planned by terrorists based in Afghanistan,” Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) was quoted as saying.

“The terrorists were in contact with their accomplices in Afghanistan and the executors of this attack are still based there,” he said.

The DG ISPR said that Afghan forces should play their role in eliminating terrorists based in their country.

He said that the terrorists during their strike on the Agriculture Directorate in Peshawar were in touch on phone with their associates based in Afghanistan.

He reiterated that terrorists operating alongside border areas are continuously attacking Pakistani border forces.

He said that a delegation under Afghan Director General Military Operations is on a visit to Pakistan following the meeting between Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani.

“We are in dialogue with the Afghan DGMO. We have provided proofs of today’s attack to him. The Afghan government and forces must look into this issue to see how we can get rid of this danger. Our cooperation is with Afghanistan,” he said.

“We hope that there will be developments on the recommendations we have provided to the delegation”.

Ghafoor said that only Afghan forces can address the issues present within its border.

Giving his response to the recent statement of top US commander Gen John Nicholson, DG ISPR said that the US general’s statement that Pakistan is not doing enough is ‘unjust’.

“Pakistan has done more than his capacity for the security, no country has done more than what Pakistan did to combat terrorism,” he said. “Our initiatives are also for the security of Afghanistan.”

Speaking on today’s terror incident, the ISPR head said that all three terrorists, wearing suicide jackets, were immediately killed by the security forces courtesy rapid and effective response by the police.

He said that terrorists reached the site of the incident at 8:45 am by rickshaw; their strike killed eight students, including one security guard.