Pak and China target hostile militant groups – TTP, BLA, ETIM in Afghanistan

By Sanjeev Sharma

New Delhi, Sep 11 (SocialNews.XYZ) Pakistan and China have named Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and Uighur militant outfit, ETIM among terrorist groups which should not be allowed to gain a foothold in Afghanistan.

This is part of a joint statement issued by six neighbouring countries of Afghanistan including Pakistan and China.

The TTP has carried out several attacks in Pakistan while BLA has recently claimed responsibility for suicide attacks in the Balochistan province.

At the initiative of the Government of Pakistan, the Foreign Ministers of Pakistan, China, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan held the Foreign Ministers' Meeting on the Afghan issue among the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan via video link on September 8.

While TTP and BLA are banned in Pakistan as terrorist outfits, ETIM is a threat to China.

Apart from these militant outfits, Jondollah, which is a militant outfit carrying out threats in Iran has also been proscribed in the statement.

The other outfits mentioned are ISIS and Al Qaeda which are perceived as global threats.

"Reiterated that terrorist organizations, such as ISIS, Al-Qaeda, ETIM, TTP, BLA, Jondollah and others should not be allowed to maintain a foothold on Afghanistan's territory", the joint statement said.

China hopes the Afghan Taliban will fulfill its promises, break off from terrorist organizations, including the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and take effective actions to firmly crack down on it, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a press conference on Friday in response to the Taliban spokesperson's comments that ETIM has no place in Afghanistan in an exclusive interview with the Global Times.

"We have noticed the exclusive interview of the Global Times and the Afghan Taliban's further commitment on topics of the ETIM," Zhao said, noting that the ETIM has been listed by the UN Security Council as an international terrorist organization and poses direct threats to China's national security and territorial integrity. It is one of the scourges that harm regional stability and a malignant tumor that is parasitic to Afghanistan.

Zhao said at the Friday conference that it is the Afghanistan and the international community's shared responsibility to firmly oppose, curb, crack down and eradicate the ETIM. China reiterated its concerns to the Afghan Taliban, which it paid attention to and made promises related to it, Global Times reported.

Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed earlier said that Pakistan has taken the Afghan Taliban on board over the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) issue, hoping that Afghanistan's soil will not be used against Pakistan, Geo News reported.

The interior minister was responding on Geo Pakistan to reports of the release of key TTP commanders from jails in Afghanistan, as the Taliban took over the country.

Maulana Faqir Mohammad, the former deputy chief of the TTP, was also released as the Taliban took hold of the capital on Sunday.

"The outlawed TTP and Daesh militants are present in the mountainous ranges of Nooristan and Nighar," he said. "We have taken the Taliban on-board over the TTP issue and told them that Pakistan will not allow its soil to be used against Afghanistan and it hopes Afghanistan won't allow its soil to be used against Pakistan."

(Sanjeev Sharma can be reached at sanjeev.s@ians.in)

Source: IANS