Pakistan shuts key border crossing with Afghanistan in wake of shrine attack

However, Pakistan says Thursday’s attack and other recent bombings have been masterminded by militants who hide across the border and use sanctuaries in Afghanistan.

Karzai said the Afghan government wants Pakistan to take strict action against terrorists that are hiding in Pakistan. However, Afghan officials said the cross-border shelling had killed a women and her son apart from leaving several civilians injured and forcing tens of families to flee their homes.

Also read: Not involved in terrorism inside Pakistan, Mr Hafiz Saeed? No cross border / unauthorised entry will be allowed to Pakistan from Afghanistan.

Pakistan has seen a dramatic improvement in security in the past two years, but there have been multiple attacks this week. They also stressed the need for unity and coordinated struggle for the eradication of terrorism and extremism from the country.

A second round of worldwide talks in Moscow on the stabilization of Afghanistan ended Wednesday with participating countries calling for Central Asian nations to be included in future discussions. To them Pakistan is as much their religious battlefield as Afghanistan or India.

He emphasised that Afghanistan condemned these attacks in the strongest terms.

On February 15, three suicide bombers targeted Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the adjoining tribal areas leaving around seven people dead. Pakistan blames Jammat-ul Ahrar for the shrine attack although the Islamic State claimed responsibility.

The jihadis justify their violence against Sufi shrines as attacks against “impure” manifestations of the Islamic faith.

“Most of the incidents in Pakistan are claimed by terrorist organisations in Afghanistan”, an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement quoted Bajwa as telling Nicholson.

Pakistan has long denied sheltering the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan on Friday accused Afghanistan of not acting against terrorist groups hiding in the Afghan badlands, in the wake of a deadly terror attack on a Sufi shrine on Thursday evening.

So, its like karma is coming to bite back Pakistan.

“We will not be pressurised by this so-called “Do more” ideology being pushed on us”. India was not invited for a similar conference two months ago.

Meanwhile, the military’s spokesperson also confirmed the development through a tweet.

India’s position was put forward at a six-country meet hosted by Russian Federation on Wednesday in Moscow. The same justification has been used in the past to attack Shias and Ahmadis as well as Pakistan’s Christians and Hindus. There are reports of few Terrorists killed in exchange of fire.