Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister linked the government’s move to expel Afghan refugees and asylum seekers from Pakistan to the Afghan Taliban-led government’s inability to stop extremists.
Acting Prime Minister Anwar ul-Haq Kakar said at a news conference on November 8 that, in the more than two years since the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan, the number of attacks by Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban or (TTP), has increased.
Kakar said that since the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan the overall number of terrorist incidents in Pakistan has increased by 60 percent. The attacks have killed 2,267 people in the country.
In addition, 64 Afghans have been killed during anti-terrorist operations involving Pakistani law enforcement agencies, he said, adding that all were known to the Afghan authorities.
Pakistan has given a list of TTP members to the Taliban in Afghanistan and shared other information, but they have not taken any serious action, he said.
The prime minister said he has also asked the Taliban government in Afghanistan to immediately arrest and hand over all Pakistanis living in Afghanistan who he said are involved in terrorist attacks in Pakistan.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban government, said the insecurity in Pakistan cannot be attributed to the involvement of the Taliban. According to Mujahid, Pakistan should solve its domestic issues on its own and not blame Afghanistan for its failures.
Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting foreign minister of the Taliban-led government, also commented on security in Pakistan, saying in an interview with the BBC on November 6 that the TTP attacks in the country have been going on for about 20 years. Muttaqi added that the attacks take place hundreds of kilometers from the Afghan border.
In recent months, the officials of the Taliban government have reiterated that they have not given shelter to the militants of the TTP or other groups and that the country's territory is not used against any other state.
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'We Don't Have Toilets': Afghans Struggle After Crossing Border From Pakistan
Relations between Islamabad and the Taliban in Afghanistan have become more strained due to the forced expulsion of Afghan refugees from Pakistan.
More than 300,000 Afghans have returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan since Islamabad announced the repatriation of undocumented Afghan migrants on October 3. Since the deadline for voluntary returns expired on November 1, Islamabad has begun forcefully deporting Afghans.
A U.S. government watchdog this week expressed concern over the forced expulsions. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said it was troubled by reports of increased detentions, violence, and intimidation against Afghan refugee communities in Pakistan.