Pakistan to get rid of the menace of terrorism soon: Rana Sanaullah

Islamabad: Pakistan's Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Thursday acknowledged a spike in acts of terrorism in the country but vowed that the menace would be tackled soon.

Sanaullah addressed a press conference here after Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants withdrew from the ceasefire agreed upon in June this year and took responsibility for a suicide attack in Quetta that killed three people, including a policeman, on Wednesday.

Sanaullah said that while the rise in terror incidents was alarming, it would not get “out of control”.

“It is not worrying <…> Don’t think that this is going out of control or that some group will become out of reach,” he said.

That the TTP claimed responsibility for the attack was both “alarming and condemnable,” he said, adding that the TTP’s activities posed a danger to regional peace and should also be a cause of concern for neighbouring Afghanistan.

In response to a question, the minister said the Afghan government had made a promise to the world that they would not allow their soil to be used for terrorism.

“If they follow through with this, it is not only for the benefit of Pakistan but it is also for their own benefit. Because if the TTP is present there (in Afghanistan) and is carrying out terrorist activities here, their soil is being used contrary to their claims,” Sanaullah said.

The TTP -- which wants to establish the rule of Sharia across Pakistan -- carried out the attack a day after it called off the ceasefire, showing that peace talks between the terrorist group and the Pakistani government had failed to produce any positive result.

The talks began last year with Afghan Taliban playing as host and facilitator but the rebels resumed attacks after their key demand of undoing the merger of the tribal region into Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

The Afghan Taliban regime has been resisting pressure from Pakistan to take action against the TTP and its affiliates operating out of the neighbouring country.

On Wednesday, the TTP claimed responsibility for an attack on a police patrolling truck in the restive Balochistan province that killed at least four people and injured 26 others. The truck was carrying security personnel to protect polio workers in the province.