Summary Afghanistan did not let its land get used for terrorism, says President House Spokesperson
KABUL (Dunya News/AFP) – Afghanistan President House Spokesperson have declined claims of planning of attack on Bacha Khan University in its territory, Dunya News reported Friday.
The spokesperson said that the government strongly condemns attack in neighbouring country however, Afghanistan did not let its land get used for terrorism.
He said that combined efforts only could curb extremism in the region. He called for strict measures to weed-out terrorism.
On January 20, Bacha Khan University in Charsadda city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) was attacked by four Taliban militants. As many as 21 lives were lost including a PhD doctor.
"Ruthless" reaction
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has vowed a "ruthless" response to the massacre and ordered security forces to hunt those behind the attack.
Authorities arrested 50 suspects from the area surrounding the university, the district police chief told AFP, as the military spokesman said on Twitter the attack had been masterminded by a TTP operative from Afghanistan.
Defiant authorities kept schools open in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Thursday -- the area where the university is located.
"Militants want them shut down," provincial education minister Arif Khan told AFP. "We wanted to send the message that education will continue."
Only Bacha Khan university and its sister university Abdul Wali Khan in the town of Mardan were closed, he said.
In Islamabad around 20 people held a prayer vigil, while there were also two small protests, one of Pashtun students.
More than 200 sportsmen and women gathered along with officials from the Pakistan Sport Board (PSB) at a complex in the capital earlier Thursday to offer prayers for the victims.
Rocket fired from Afghanistan side of the border
On Thursday, a rocket fired from Afghanistan hit a shop in a restive Pakistani tribal region close to the Afghan border on Thursday, killing three people, officials said.
The incident happened in Angoor Adda Bazaar in the South Waziristan tribal district, one of the seven semi-autonomous regions where the Pakistani military has been battling Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants for more than a decade.
"One of the two rockets fired from Afghanistan’s Birmal town hit a bread shop, killing three Afghan nationals who were residents of South Waziristan," a senior military official told AFP.
The second rocket fell in a secluded place.
The official said it was still unclear who had fired the rockets.
An intelligence official confirmed the incident.
The bazaar had been closed for six months after skirmishes between Pakistani and Afghan troops over construction by Pakistan close to the border. Officials said it re-opened just a week ago.
Pakistan’s mountainous western border became a hotbed of Islamist militants following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
The military began a long-awaited push to clear insurgent bases from the North Waziristan tribal district in June 2014 after a bloody Taliban attack on Karachi airport sank faltering peace talks.
