By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Monday that the military strikes inside Afghanistan target only militant infrastructure and support networks, flatly denying accusations from the Afghan Taliban regime and the United Nations that civilian areas have been hit during the escalating border conflict.
The statement from information minister Ataullah Tarar came after the UN mission in Kabul and Afghan officials accused Pakistan of endangering noncombatants in its campaign “Ghazab Lil Haq,” or “Wrath for Truth.”
In a conversation with foreign media correspondents, Tarar emphasized that the operations were based on “accurate” intelligence and insisted Pakistan had avoided civilian targets entirely. “Pakistan has not targeted any civilian area in Afghanistan,” his ministry quoted him as saying. “Pakistan is only targeting the infrastructure of terrorists and their support system.”
He dismissed reports of civilian deaths, arguing that the United Nations was “completely dependent on the Taliban government” for its information. The UN human rights chief said Friday that 56 Afghan civilians had been killed since the fighting erupted, nearly half of them children.
Tarar also brushed aside claims by an Afghan defence ministry spokesperson that Taliban forces had inflicted significant battlefield losses on Pakistan, calling them “just propaganda.” A day earlier, on Sunday, he had said that 583 Afghan Taliban fighters had been killed in the Pakistani strikes. The latest exchange deepened a conflict that began Feb. 26, when Afghan Taliban launched an attack on Pakistani military positions along the shared border. That assault came in retaliation for earlier Pakistani airstrikes on what Islamabad described as militant camps inside Afghanistan.
Islamabad has long accused the Taliban-led government in Kabul of sheltering militant groups, including the Pakistani Taliban – Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, and of allowing them to plan and launch attacks inside Pakistan. Afghanistan has called for talks to end the fighting. Pakistan has rejected those overtures, saying the operation will continue until its objectives are achieved. “There is a nexus between the Afghan Taliban government and several terrorist organizations operating from Afghan soil,” Tarar added.
Pakistan’s government and military have repeatedly described the TTP as “Fitna Al-Khawarij,” a term evoking historical Islamic schisms that officials use to portray the group as extremists bent on imposing their strict interpretation of Islamic law across Pakistan. The militants have carried out some of the deadliest attacks against Pakistani security forces and civilians since 2007.
In a separate development Monday, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry announced that the Punjab Counter Terrorism Department had killed four TTP militants during an operation in the eastern district of Dera Ghazi Khan. The raid, which local media reported took place Sunday, targeted militants in a border area of the province, the ministry said.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi praised the security forces, saying they had thwarted “the nefarious designs of the Khawarij terrorists.” “I pay tribute to Punjab CTD for thwarting the nefarious designs of the Khawarij terrorists,” Naqvi was quoted as saying.
The announcement showed Pakistan’s broader campaign against the TTP, which it has vowed to eradicate from its territory even as it accuses Afghanistan of providing the group safe haven. The fighting has strained relations between the two neighbors to a level not seen in years, reviving old grievances over militancy, border management and the legacy of decades of conflict in the region.
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