Around 90 per cent of terrorists operating in Afghanistan are actively targeting China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects, key installations and economic activity, Pakistan’s counter-terrorism department (CTD) has claimed.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) CTD Javed Iqbal Wazir made these remarks while speaking to reporters in Peshawar city on 30 December.
He said that the anti-terrorism wing has busted five major groups of Islamic State – Khorasan Province in Peshawar and Bannu region since 2020.
“Three of the major groups were busted by the CTD Peshawar region while two were busted by the CTD Bannu range. The held terrorists were involved in over 40 incidents of target-killing, including attacks on polio vaccination teams,” Pakistani newspaper The News International quoted Wazi as saying.
The CTD chief added the arrested and killed terrorists included a number of most wanted people who were carrying millions of rupees as head money.
The assertions of the top official are in stark contrast to a US report which has claimed that Pakistan failed to take adequate steps to counter-terrorism and prosecute terrorists including masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai attacks such as Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) founder Masood Azhar and Lashkar-e-Taiba’s (LeT) Sajid Mir.
It also said that Pakistan made “limited progress” in its pledge to dismantle all terrorist organizations without delay or discrimination.
Pakistan made limited progress on the most difficult aspects of its 2015 National Action Plan to counter-terrorism, specifically in its pledge to dismantle all terrorist organizations without delay or discrimination,” the US State Department report said in its 2020 ‘Country Reports on Terrorism’.
At the same time, the US report stated that Indian security agencies are effective in disrupting terror threats and respond “in a timely manner” to the requests made by the United States for information related to terrorism investigations.
