Time to end forced hospitality, terrorism source to pay the price: Khawaja Asif

ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Friday said “it’s the time to end the forced hospitality”, adding that the “source of terrorism would have to pay the price” no matter where it was located.

The remarks came soon after a meeting, which Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, made it clear that Afghan nationals without visas to be sent home immediately and they were not going to get concessions any more.

Read more: Afghan nationals without visas to be sent home immediately

In a post shared on X and written in Urdu, the defence minister said “our land and resources are owned by 25 million Pakistanis” and remarked “honourable nations do not survive on the soil and resources of others”.

PAKISTAN TO HIT THE SOURCE OF TERROR

Talking about terrorism, the seasoned politician said there would not more be any “protest demarche”, “appeals for peace” or Pakistani delegations visiting Kabul — a reference to the repeated efforts on the part of Pakistan to convince the Taliban regime to act against the terrorist groups it is housing in Afghanistan.

“[Any] source of terrorism of terrorism would have to pay the price where ever it is located,” the defence minister warned as Pakistan is determined to crush the terrorist groups operating from Afghanistan, which India has been sponsoring continuously.

Earlier on Thursday, Khawaja Asif in an exclusive interview to HUM News said “TTP is Kabul’s proxy and Afghanistan is a proxy of India”. There was no more any ambiguity about the Afghan policy of Pakistan, he added.

Read more: TTP is Afghanistan’s proxy and Afghanistan of India: Khawaja Asif

“Situation is clear. We now know who is [our] enemy and who is enemy.”

FAILED PEACE EFFORTS

To prove his point, the defence minister listed different steps that Pakistan had taken since the Kabul takeover in August 2021. It included the foreign minister’s four visits to Kabul as well as two each by the defence minister and the ISI director general.

Read more: Using ceasefire for buying time won’t be accepted: Shehbaz

Besides around a dozen other visit of top Pakistani officials, he also mentioned the two sides held eight joint coordination committee meetings and 225 border flag meetings in addition to 836 protest statements and 13 demarches.

However, he said Pakistan ended up carrying the bodies of 3,844 martyrs — including civilians, military personnel and law enforcers.

Khawaja Asif went on to talk about the Afghan Taliban-India nexus and all the Afghans living in Pakistan would have to go home given that their “caliphate” had been established five years ago.