Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, Talal Chaudhry said groups were entering Pakistan from Afghanistan to carry out terrorist attacks. He alleged that Afghanistan was being used as a “super proxy” and that facilitators of attacks were present across Pakistan’s eastern and western borders.
Chaudhry said terrorist attacks should not be described as jihad, alleging that militants involved in such activities receive financial payments. He also criticized the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, claiming that the provincial leadership had not openly condemned terrorism or stood with security forces against militant groups.
He further alleged that provincial officials attend meetings in Islamabad to seek National Finance Commission funds but do not participate in meetings related to counterterrorism.
Referring to a recent terrorist incident at a security checkpoint during a peace festival in Dera Ismail Khan, Chaudhry said women and children were among those killed. He claimed that the identities of the attackers could not be verified through NADRA and other government databases.
According to Chaudhry, images and footage of killed militants are often released on social media after attacks. He said an image of one suspected attacker from the D.I. Khan incident was immediately checked against government systems, but no identity was found.
The state minister said open-source information indicated that the suspected attacker was a resident of Kabul. He added that militants often operate under fake names, making their identification difficult.
Chaudhry further alleged that militant proxies were being sponsored from across Pakistan’s eastern border and claimed that most terrorist groups involved in attacks over the past two and a half to three years had entered from Afghanistan. He presented photographs and available details about the suspected militants to the media.