UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has expressed deep concern over terrorist groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), acquiring sophisticated illicit weapons, urging concerted global efforts to curb their supply.
Speaking at an informal UN Security Council meeting convened by Sierra Leone, Pakistani diplomat Syed Atif Raza highlighted that UN-sanctioned militant groups were using safe havens in Afghanistan to launch cross-border attacks in Pakistan with advanced weaponry.
“Terrorist armed groups possess billions worth of illicit arms abandoned in Afghanistan,” said Raza, a counselor at Pakistan’s UN mission, during the debate on small arms management in UN sanctions regimes.
He emphasized that such weapons were being used by TTP and BLA in attacks against Pakistani civilians and security forces, adding that these groups receive “external support and financing from our principal adversary”—an apparent reference to India.
Pakistan called on the international community to recover abandoned arms stockpiles, block terrorists’ access to them, and dismantle the thriving black market for illicit weapons.
Raza warned that the misuse of small arms and light weapons fuels conflicts, undermines socio-economic progress, and destabilizes peace. He noted that non-state actors lack the capability to manufacture advanced weapons, raising suspicions of state involvement in their supply.
