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The fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban has once again turned it into a safe haven for terrorist outfits, said a research analyst of a Netherlands-based think tank.
Aaron Magunna, who is an analyst of the European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS), made these remarks at the 49th Session United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). "As the recent terror attack on a Shia mosque in Peshawar has illustrated, the implications of this are not limited to Afghanistan alone. Terrorism is once again on the rise throughout South Asia," said Magunna. After the initial elation over the Taliban's victory in Afghanistan in August last year, Pakistan's euphoria is now subsiding in the face of increased terrorism at home. The Pakistan government had hoped that a friendly regime in Afghanistan would ease its concerns about the Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). What has happened instead is a spike in terror attacks in recent months. According to the EFSAS analyst, the growing number of terrorist attacks in Pakistan highlights that Pakistan and Pakistanis have now also become primary targets for attacks. "For the Pakistani military establishment, its systemic support for fundamentalism and terrorism, all in the name of strategic depth, has now come to undermine Pakistan's own national security," he said. Magunna stressed that the main victim of this support for terrorism is the innocent Pakistani civilian population. "In Peshawar and elsewhere terrorists target ordinary civilians who have had no say in their country's foreign policy pursued by a small elite." "Without institutionalizing democracy and political accountability in both countries, the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan will further spiral out of control. This will increase civilian suffering in the two countries in which the needs of the many have been sold for the wants of the few for so long," he added. In the interest of the Pakistani population and the international community, the EFSAS analyst said UNHRC must put additional pressure on the government of Pakistan and hold it accountable to fulfill its legal and moral obligations of promoting and protecting human rights. (ANI)
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