Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Tuesday criticised what he described as the “unfortunate trend” of calling terrorists ‘militants’.
Referring to a news report published by Turkish public broadcaster TRT World on the recent terrorist attack on a Rangers facility in Karachi in which three security personnel were martyred, Tarar strongly objected to the use of the term “militants” for the attackers.
“The Karachi attack was a terrorist attack in which innocent people were killed,” he said. “Terrorists must not be called by any other name.” “Terrorists are terrorists, they have no caste, colour, creed or religion,” he explained.
Tarar’s statements come days after the military’s media wing announced the capture of one of the terrorists involved in the Rangers facility attack.
The terrorist was identified by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) as an Afghan national with links to Indian proxy Jaamatul Ahrar. He and his companions had been trained in Afghanistan before crossing the border to carry out their attack, ISPR said. On Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Afghan charge d’affaires to issue a strong demarche over the Karachi terrorist attack.
Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration in Kabul to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil that are used for attacks in Pakistan. Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded.
The information minister has been a vocal critic of the Afghan Taliban’s “perversion of religion” to legitimise its rule and ‘authoritarian motives’. Tarar has also accused the regime of providing safe haven for the training and facilitation of terrorists.