ISLAMABAD: Taliban authorities in Afghanistan announced their plan on Sunday to move thousands of Pakistani refugees away from Pak-Afghan border provinces amid sustained allegations that the displaced population was the source of growing terrorism in neighbouring Pakistan.
The Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, told Voice of America that the refugees currently reside in Kunar, Khost, and some adjoining Afghanistan border provinces.
“The Islamic Emirate plans to relocate them to far-flung provinces (in Afghanistan) to ensure they do not have access to the (border) lines nor are they involved in attacks or any other acts of violence that happen in Pakistan,” the spokesman said, using the official title of the Taliban government. He didn’t elaborate.
The plan comes amid a dramatic increase in cross-border militant attacks in Pakistan since the Taliban returned to power after Kabul fall almost 22 months ago. The violence has killed hundreds of citizens, primarily Pakistani security forces, especially in districts near the Afghanistan border. The outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), allegedly operating out of Afghan soil, has claimed credit for much of the deadly violence.
Hostility on Sunday
The new hostility occurred on Sunday in the volatile North Waziristan border district, where, according to the Pakistani army, a security raid against a “terrorists’ location” had killed two soldiers and two militants.
Pakistani officials maintain that fugitive TTP fighters and leaders, along with their families, reside among tens of thousands of Pakistanis who have taken refuge in Afghanistan after fleeing a 2014 large-scale counterterrorism army operation in the Waziristan border district of Pakistan.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) estimated in an October 2019 report that most of the approximately 72,000 Pakistani refugees settled on Afghan soil were living in a makeshift camp in Khost on the border between the two countries.
Islamabad presses Kabul
Islamabad has been pressing Kabul to control cross-border TTP attacks and complaining that the group enjoys “greater operational freedom” after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Pakistani officials said that members of the Taliban have been helping TTP carry out cross-border attacks.
While Mujahid didn’t name TTP in his comments on Sunday, a prominent Pakistani official told VOA last week that the Taliban had recently told Islamabad they intend to “relocate TTP members” from the border to remote Afghan provinces.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that the Taliban proposal could limit the access of TTP to Pakistan.
The militant group, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, claims its insurgency in Pakistan is aimed at overthrowing the government, calling it “un-Islamic.” Washington, on the other hand, has outlawed TTP as an international terrorist organization.
