Pakistan summons Afghan diplomat over Karachi terror attack

WEB DESK: Pakistan has issued a strong demarche to the Afghan Taliban administration following a deadly terrorist attack in Karachi, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) confirmed on Monday.

The diplomatic protest was prompted by concrete evidence linking Afghan nationals to the assault, including the capture of an attacker alive at the scene.

Dual diplomatic protests

In a coordinated diplomatic move, Islamabad delivered its protest to the interim Afghan government through two separate channels. According to MoFA Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi, the Afghan chargé d’affaires was summoned to the foreign ministry in Islamabad late last night to receive the formal reprimand.

Simultaneously, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan, Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani, conveyed a matching demarche directly to the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul.

Soil used for terror

The foreign ministry stated that the high-level diplomatic protests were necessitated by findings from the ongoing investigation into the Karachi attack. Official cross-border intelligence indicated that Afghan nationals were directly involved in executing the assault.

“These demarches were issued in light of the fact that Afghan nationals, including one apprehended alive, participated in this attack,” Andrabi said. He added that the development proved “yet again that Afghan soil and Afghan nationals continue to be used to orchestrate terrorist attacks inside Pakistan.”

Rangers camp targeted in Gulistan-i-Jauhar

The diplomatic showdown follows a major security breach on Sunday, where three Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) personnel were martyred and four others injured. Heavily armed militants launched a coordinated bomb and gun attack on a paramilitary camp in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar area.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the attack targeted the Rangers Camp in Block 5 and was carried out by Jamaatul Ahrar, which the military described as an “Indian proxy”. The assailants first detonated a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VB-IED) at the camp’s main gate before attempting to storm the perimeter under the cover of gunfire.

Paramilitary forces engaged the attackers in an intense 15-minute gun battle, killing three militants on the spot and capturing the fourth wounded attacker, who was subsequently identified as the Afghan national mentioned in MoFA’s demarche.