Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has claimed that the Taliban had demanded 10 billion rupees to remove the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from the border areas.
He asked Taliban officials to guarantee that the militants would not return to Pakistan, but they did not respond positively.
Hamid Mir, a well-known Geo News TV host, on Wednesday released a part of his interview with Asif, who has always made harsh and critical statements against the Taliban.
The Pakistani defence minister said, "After the Taliban returned to power, I went to Afghanistan and met with the Taliban’s defence minister and other leaders. I told them that if the terrorists did not stop, we would be forced to take action and they should not complain later."
Pakistan has bombed Afghan border areas at least twice in the past three years, saying that the attacks target members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who have safe havens in the areas.
In the latest incident, the Pakistani army attacked the Barmal district of Paktia province, killing at least 48 people. The Taliban claimed that civilians, including children and women, were killed in the attack. However, Pakistani officials claim that they had targeted leaders of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Pakistan has asked the Taliban not to allow Pakistani militants to operate in border areas and attack Pakistani security forces. Khawaja Asif claimed in the interview that the Taliban “demanded 10 billion rupees to transfer members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to another location”.
Earlier, there were reports that the Taliban planned to move TTP members to northern Afghanistan, but the group has not shown any interest in being present in the north.
The senior Pakistani official said that internal threats pose a greater threat to Pakistan's security than external threats. He accused former Prime Minister Imran Khan of settling more than 40,000 Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) members in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He addressed the recent US sanctions against his country's missile programme and said that those responsible for the genocide in Gaza have no right to protest against Pakistan.
The United States has sanctioned several Pakistani companies and entities for their involvement in Pakistan's ballistic missile development programme. The country said that Islamabad has no justification for building these missiles, which could also endanger US security.
