According to a news release, the Pakistan Mission to the United Nations on Tuesday stated the nation has “credible evidence” demonstrating the Jaffer Express attack was “externally sponsored by its regional adversaries.”
On March 11, Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) terrorists ambushed the Jaffar Express train loaded with 440 people, opening fire and captives seizing.
Beginning on March 12, security personnel ran a two-day operation. Although all 33 terrorists were neutralised, Inter-Services Public Relations Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry confirmed that no captives suffered during the last rescue operation.
Counsellor Jawad Ajmal of the Pakistan Mission underlined during the launch of the “victims of Terrorism Association Network” that the international community has a duty to assist survivors of horrific terrorism events and the families of victims whose lives were permanently changed by such tragedies.
Calling for holding terrorists and their handlers responsible and using a “uniform, victim-centric approach,” he underlined the need of group effort to stop next atrocities.
“We have to go outside limited political interests and geopolitical ambitions if we are to plot a course ahead for victims. We have to look at why, in spite of world policies, terrorism threats keep growing and result in an always rising count of victims.
Pakistan categorically denounced terrorism in all its forms and expressions, including right-wing extremism, Islamophobia, racially and ethnically motivated terrorism, and, above all, state-sponsored terrorism.
Ajmal underlined that the world has to deal with the underlying causes of terrorism as well as the circumstances allowing its proliferation. He also underlined the need of separating terrorists from justifiable fight for autonomy.
The counsellor underlined the need of “addressing state-sponsored terrorism and underlined the necessity of reaching a consensual definition of terrorism that reflects emerging trends.”
“He said that challenges resulting from the use of new tools — such as social media and the dark web — to deepen divisions and incite violence must also be combated,” the press release said.
He also demanded initiatives to counter disinformation tactics meant to propagate Islamophobia, xenophobia, and hate speech.
Ajmal underlined that victims of terrorism owe a moral and legal debt to the world community to implement efficient, unbiased actions to eradicate terrorism anywhere it occurs and in whatever form.
“There will be more victims the more terrorism exists,” he said.
Regarding the latest Pahalgam attack, Ajmal voiced worry at the death toll among tourists. We send our sincere sympathies to the near ones of the departed, he continued, and wish the wounded a quick recovery.
He pointed out that Pakistan denounced the attack in line with other UN Security Council members.
The counsellor further mentioned that over two decades Pakistan has been among the worst targets of terrorism. Pakistan is still motivated by the endurance and fortitude of its country even with the death toll of over 80,000 people and thousands more injured.
“We honour the families of the martyrs from our law enforcement agencies and armed forces, who have made innumerable sacrifices to defend our motherland,” he said.
The Foreign Office last month said that the attackers on the Jaffar Express stayed in contact with their superiors in Afghanistan all during the attack.
FO spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan was questioned during the briefing whether Pakistan had changed its position when it claimed that Afghanistan, not India, was responsible for the terrorism incidents on Pakistan. He underlined that policy did not change. “The facts haven’t changed.” India sponsors terrorism aimed against Pakistan. What I was referring to was proof of calls linked to Afghanistan in this specific incidence. I said this, he remarked.
One day later, the DG ISPR declared India Balochistan’s “main sponsor” of terrorism.
Maintaining that India was the primary source of terrorism in Balochistan, Lt Gen Chaudhry claimed the terrorists had employed foreign and Afghan weapons in past operations as well as in the last one. “We have to realise that your eastern neighbour [India] is the main sponsor of both past terrorist events in Balochistan and current one.”
