Islamabad, July 18, 2025: Pakistan has called on the international community to adopt non-discriminatory and objective counterterrorism policies, insisting that militant factions like the Majeed Brigade be designated as aliases of the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
In a statement issued Friday, Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said Pakistan has remained a “counterterrorism bulwark” through unmatched sacrifices and success, and urged global stakeholders to work collectively against terrorism.
The statement came in response to the United States’ designation of The Resistance Front (TRF)—an alleged offshoot of the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)—as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” for its suspected role in the April 22 attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), which killed 26 people.
India swiftly blamed Pakistan for the attack, prompting a brief but intense military confrontation. Pakistan responded with Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos, downing six Indian Air Force jets, including three Rafales, before a US-brokered ceasefire brought hostilities to a halt on May 10, after four days of cross-border clashes.
The FO spokesperson emphasized that investigations into the Pahalgam attack are still inconclusive, and any alleged linkage with LeT—a defunct group banned in Pakistan—“belies ground realities.”
“Pakistan has effectively dismantled proscribed outfits, prosecuted their leadership, and deradicalized former members,” Khan said, while stressing that India routinely exploits such designations to “fuel anti-Pakistan propaganda” and deflect attention from its rights violations in occupied Kashmir.
Reaffirming its stance, the FO stated:
“Pakistan condemns terrorism in all forms and manifestations. Zero tolerance and international cooperation remain the cornerstones of our policy.”
The statement also highlighted Pakistan’s role in aiding global counterterrorism, referencing the arrest of Mohammad Sharifullah alias Jafar, the Daesh-Khorasan operative believed to be the mastermind of the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing at Kabul Airport that killed 170 Afghans and 13 US soldiers.
Sharifullah was apprehended with the help of CIA-provided intelligence, the FO said. His arrest was confirmed by former US President Donald Trump, who thanked Pakistan and called it “a very huge day for the affected families.”
