UNSC should swiftly designate BLA as terrorist group: Pakistan at UN

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s UN envoy on Wednesday urged the United Nations Security Council to swiftly designate the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) as a terrorist group, thanking the council for the statement condemning the terrorist acts.

The UNSC condemned the “heinous and cowardly” coordinated terrorist attacks in Pakistan’s Balochistan province last week, which left 17 security personnel martyred and 31 civilians dead. Consequently, Pakistani security forces, in counter terrorism operations, eliminated 177 terrorists, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told the National Assembly.

While speaking to the council on Wednesday, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN, thanked the country’s friends and well-wishers across the globe for the outpouring of support and solidarity with Pakistan. 

“We remain resolute in eliminating this externally sponsored scourge from our soil and exposing the sponsors, financiers, aiders, and abettors sitting across our borders,” the ambassador said.          

Ahmad said that after the Taliban takeover in Kabul, externally sponsored and foreign-funded proxy terrorist groups got a new lease of life.

“Operating with virtual impunity from Afghan soil and with the active support of our eastern neighbour, these groups are responsible for heinous terrorist attacks inside Pakistan,” the ambassador said, referring to the attacks in multiple locations in the province.

While referring to the crimes in Indian occupied Kashmir, the ambassador said there must be “zero tolerance for state terrorism,” adding that “repression cannot be masked as counterterrorism.”