Pakistan hands Kabul strong demarche over Karachi attack
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan issued a strong demarche to Afghanistan over the terrorist attack on a Rangers facility in Karachi, Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said on Monday.
Terrorists attacked a compound of the Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar area on Saturday night, resulting in the martyrdom of three personnel.
Mr Andrabi confirmed Islamabad’s summoning of the envoy in a statement on Monday, in response to media queries regarding Pakistan’s demarche to the Afghan Taliban regime.
He added that a “similar demarche” was conveyed by Pakistan’s Ambassador Ubaidur Rehman Nizamani to the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Tarar says Jamaatul Ahrar safe havens, ammo dumps targeted on basis of credible intelligence
“These demarches were issued in light of the fact that Afghan nationals, including one apprehended alive, participated in this attack, proving yet again that Afghan soil and Afghan nationals continue to be used to orchestrate terrorist attacks inside Pakistan,” the FO spokesperson highlighted.
Following the identification of one of the alleged terrorists as an Afghan national, Pakistan also launched ground and air strikes against targets along the Afghan border on Sunday night.
On Monday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar shared footage from strikes in the Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces of Afghanistan.
“Under Operation Ghazb Lil Haq, security forces precisely struck terrorist camps and safe havens of Jamaatul Ahrar and Fitna al-Khwarij in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar, eliminating terrorists and destroying weapons and ammunition stockpiles on night 28/29 June,” he wrote on X.
Fitna al Khawarij is the term used by the state to designate members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The previous night, the minister had said that at least 29 terrorists had been killed in the strikes on their safe havens.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, the minister said Pakistan had credible intelligence that the targeted miscreants were involved in the attack on the Rangers compound in Karachi.
“Pakistan believes that whenever Afghan soil will be used to carry out terrorist attacks, Islamabad has a right to respond,” he said, adding that the strikes targeted Jamaatul Ahrar and Fitna Al Khwarij safe havens, including their ammunition storage.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) also confirmed 28 casualties in air strikes carried out by Pakistan.
Following Saturday’s attack in Karachi, security sources said the arrested terrorist had identified himself as Usman Ali and revealed that he had come to Pakistan from Jalalabad in Afghanistan around a week ago.
According to the sources, he admitted that he belonged to Jamaatul Ahrar, whose commander in Afghanistan he identified as Ahrar Moulvi. Moreover, the sources noted, the held terrorist said he and his companions were trained in Afghanistan.
According to information available on the United Nations Security Council’s website, the Jamaatul Ahrar is based in Nangarhar, Afghanistan.
The Jamaatul Ahrar was formed by Abdul Wali aka Omar Khalid Khorasani in 2014 after his split from TTP, but both groups joined hands in 2024. Although no formal separation occurred after a dispute between the two surfaced in the media in January 2025, no significant positions were allocated to the Jamaatul Ahrar when the TTP announced its appointments for 2025 in February.
Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2026
