ISLAMABAD: A senior Afghan diplomat was summoned to the Foreign Office on Wednesday and a formal demarche was made against Tuesday’s cross-border terrorist attack on a security post in North Waziristan in which four soldiers had been killed.

“A strong protest has been lodged with Afghanistan over a physical attack laun­ched by terrorists from across the border in the North Waziristan area,” a Foreign Office statement said.

The demarche was delivered to the deputy chief of mission of the Afghan embassy.

“Serious concerns were conveyed to the Afghan side on the developing threats from the recently established sanctuaries across the border in Khost and Paktika provinces,” the statement said.

Banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants and other terrorists fleeing Zarb-i-Azb military operation are reported to have set up sanctuaries in Khost and Paktika. The attack in which four soldiers of the Frontier Corps were killed was the first attack from the newly established safe havens. The attack was thwarted and 11 terrorists were killed. The remaining attackers, who numbered close to 100, fled back to Afghanistan, leaving the bodies.

The previous attacks from Afghanistan had taken place from TTP sanctuaries in Kunar and Nuristan set up after the military operation in Swat.

It was not the first time that Pakistan intimated Afghanistan about the threat posed by new terrorist havens. Information about terrorists assembling in these places and planning attacks had been passed on several occasions through diplomatic and military channels to Afghan authorities, a military official said, adding that the Afghans had failed to take action.

The demarche again called on the Afghan government to take complementary actions to support the military action in North Waziristan for elimination of terrorism.

“It was reiterated that at a time when Pakistani authorities were undertaking a monumental effort against terrorists through the military operation Zarb-i-Azb, all possible cooperation was expected from the Afghan side, who must take tangible steps to eliminate these sanctuaries/safe havens to avoid recurrence of such attacks,” the Foreign Office said.

In a statement issued a day earlier in response to Afghan allegations against Pakistani intelligence agencies, the Foreign Office said that elimination of TTP sanctuaries on Afghan soil and handing over of TTP terrorists currently in Afghanistan could be the first important step towards counter-terrorism cooperation.

Published in Dawn, September 18th , 2014