Pakistan has told the United Nations it will not “sit idle” while facing what it called an externally backed terrorist onslaught and a sharp rise in cross-border terror from Afghanistan.
Speaking on 30 October in the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee during an interactive dialogue with Richard Bennett, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, Pakistani delegate Muhammad Jawad Ajmal said Islamabad has the right to respond in self-defence against militant networks. Ajmal, a counsellor in Pakistan’s mission to the UN, tied the ruling Taliban to the unimpeded regional operations of banned groups including the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and the BLA’s Majeed Brigade.
What Pakistan told the UN
Ajmal said that in the past three years alone, more than 4,700 innocent Pakistanis have lost their lives to terrorism emanating from Afghanistan. He described a 16 March action in which Pakistan “precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure, including drones and ammunition storage facilities used by the TTP to target innocent Pakistani civilians.”
“We will respond in self-defense, as and when needed and in accordance with international law against whosoever attempts to harm our citizens and our national security,” he said.
Commenting on Bennett’s report, which accused the Taliban of systematic violations against women and children, Ajmal said the Taliban continue to backtrack on international obligations. He said women and girls in Afghanistan are denied fundamental freedoms and basic dignity through discriminatory and abusive practices that, in Pakistan’s view, run against Islamic laws, traditions and tenets of the Muslim faith.
He also recalled that Pakistan has over the years welcomed millions of Afghan refugees, whom he said pose a serious threat to the country’s security, while stressing that Islamabad still facilitates vulnerable Afghans despite limits. He urged the wider international community to take on more of that responsibility.
What the special rapporteur reported
Bennett warned that the Taliban have shown no willingness to reverse systematic human rights violations and have instead intensified repression through new edicts. Recalling a girl from Balkh, he said three words define their lives: “fear, tears and despair.”
He pointed to more than 2.6 million girls denied secondary education since 2021, about 9 million children facing severe hunger, and 3.7 million children under five suffering acute malnutrition. Child labour is rising, he said, with some families selling or giving away children. Boys still in school face curricula shaped by Taliban ideology, teaching a generation that excluding sisters and mothers is normal.
New judicial rules, he said, sanction violence against women and girls unless broken bones or visible bruises result, while another decree makes marital separation harder and treats a girl’s silence as consent to marriage. Bennett urged states not to normalise ties without independently verified rights improvements, to keep humanitarian aid flowing, and to support accountability, including moves to treat gender apartheid as a crime. “Abandoning them would hand the Taliban legitimacy in exchange for nothing, and Afghan women would pay first,” he said.
Timeline: what has happened so far
- 2021 onwards: More than 2.6 million Afghan girls have been denied secondary education, according to Bennett.
- Past three years: Pakistan says more than 4,700 innocent citizens were killed by terrorism linked to Afghanistan.
- 16 March: Pakistan says it targeted military installations and TTP support infrastructure, including drones and ammunition stores.
- 30 October: At the UN in New York, Ajmal warns Pakistan will not sit idle and asserts a right of self-defence; Bennett reports deepening Taliban repression.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Pakistan ne UN mein kaha ke Afghanistan se aane wali dahshatgardi par woh chup nahi baithega. Akhri teen saalon mein 4,700 se zyada Pakistani is wajah se mar chuke hain, un ka kehna hai. Taliban ko TTP aur BLA jaisi banned groups se jora gaya. Sarhad ke paas rehnewalon ke liye yeh baat yeh matlab rakhti hai ke amn aur sarhad ka masla ab bhi bohot ernst hai.
