Taliban's safe havens inside, not outside Afghanistan: Pakistan

Agencies

June 23, 2017

United Nations, Jun 23: Taliban "safe havens" are inside Afghanistan not outside, Pakistan`s Ambassador to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi has said.

"The resilience of the insurgency led by the Taliban cannot be explained away by convenient references to external `safe havens` or `support centres`," Lodhi told the 15-member UN Security Council during a debate on Afghanistan on Wednesday.

Relations between the two countries have turned sour since Afghanistan`s President Ashraf Ghani accused Pakistan of waging an "undeclared war of aggression" against his country, Dawn reported on Thursday.

Pakistan, Lodhi asserted, was committed not to allow its territory to be used for terrorism against other countries.

"Pakistan`s Zarb-e-Azb and subsequent Raddul Fasaad military operations had succeeded in eliminating all terrorist and militant groups from its tribal territory bordering Afghanistan," she said.

She told the Council that Islamabad was "implementing border controls, including the fencing and monitoring of vulnerable sections of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border."

Lodhi said that "as a country that continues to host over two million Afghan refugees, Pakistan expects gratitude and not hostility from the Afghan government".

Both the countries, she stated, have suffered at the hands of terrorism and should cooperate with one another in order to eliminate terrorism from the region.

Lodhi said that apart from Afghanistan itself, there is no country other than Pakistan, which has suffered more from the wars and violence that have engulfed Afghanistan for over 35 years.

"There is no other country, which will gain more from peace in Afghanistan," she said.

Lodhi added that a political strategy is needed since it was impossible to reach a political solution with only an increase in troops and military involvement.

On his part, Afghanistan`s Ambassador Mahmoud Saikal said reversing the tide against terror was contingent on eliminating support centres beyond the country`s borders that produced, nurtured and empowered terrorists operating in Afghanistan.

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Pak jail authorities say Imran Khan is alive and healthy after ‘murder’ rumours spark panic

News Network

November 27,2025

Authorities at Pakistan’s high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on Wednesday dismissed speculation about the condition of imprisoned former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, rejecting rumours that he had been moved out of the facility or was in danger. Officials said Khan was in “good health” and described the viral death claims as “baseless.”

“There is no truth to reports about his transfer from Adiala Jail,” the Rawalpindi prison administration said in a statement, according to Geo News. “He is fully healthy and receiving complete medical attention.”

Amid swirling rumours on social media, Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), urged the federal government to issue an official clarification and demanded that authorities allow his family to meet him immediately, Dawn reported.

The frenzy began after Khan’s three sisters called for an impartial probe into what they described as a “brutal” police assault on them and other PTI supporters outside Adiala Jail last week. Soon after, several social media handles circulated unverified claims alleging that Khan had been “killed” inside the prison.

The rumours intensified when a handle named “Afghanistan Times” claimed that “credible sources” had confirmed Khan’s “murder” and that his body had been moved out of the jail — allegations that have not been verified by any credible agency.

Imran Khan, PTI’s patron-in-chief, has been lodged in the Rawalpindi prison since August 2023 in multiple cases. For over a month, an undeclared restriction has prevented family members and senior PTI leaders from meeting him. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has reportedly been denied access despite making seven attempts.

In a letter to Punjab Police Chief Usman Anwar, Khan’s sisters — Noreen Niazi, Aleema Khan, and Dr. Uzma Khan — said they were “peacefully protesting” outside the jail when police allegedly launched an unprovoked assault after streetlights were switched off.

“At 71, I was seized by my hair, thrown to the ground and dragged across the road,” Noreen Niazi said, alleging that other women present were also slapped and manhandled.

Adiala Jail officials reiterated that speculation over Imran Khan’s health was unfounded and insisted that his well-being was being ensured, Geo News reported.

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