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Pakistan on Monday summoned the Afghan chargé d’affaires to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and lodged a strong protest over the recent terrorist assault on a Pakistan Rangers facility in Karachi, Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi confirmed.
The protest follows Saturday night’s brazen attack on a Rangers headquarters in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar area, a strike that claimed the lives of three security personnel who embraced martyrdom and left four others wounded. Eyewitnesses described a chaotic scene as emergency teams rushed to the compound.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), security forces mounted a swift and decisive response, killing three assailants and apprehending another suspect alive. The ISPR said the attackers were affiliated with the Indian-backed militant outfit Jamaatul Ahrar (JuA), and the captured suspect was identified by the military as an Afghan national.
Responding to media questions, FO spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said Pakistan had conveyed its concerns directly to the Afghan envoy in Islamabad. He added that Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan, Ubaidur Rehman Nizamani, had also delivered an identical demarche to Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul.
Andrabi said the diplomatic protest was based on evidence that Afghan nationals, including the militant captured in the Karachi operation, were involved in the attack. He said the incident again highlighted Pakistan’s concerns about the use of Afghan territory and nationals to carry out terrorist activities inside the country.
After the attack, security sources identified the arrested suspect as Usman Ali. During initial questioning, he told investigators he had entered Pakistan from Jalalabad about a week before the assault.
The suspect allegedly admitted to being a member of Jamaatul Ahrar and named the group’s commander in Afghanistan as Ahrar Moulvi. Security officials said he also disclosed that he and his accomplices had received training in Afghanistan.