ISLAMABAD, Mar 2 (APP):President Asif Ali Zardari, Monday, said Pakistan is a responsible nuclear state that understands the weight of that responsibility but at the same time, they were a state that defended itself decisively when required.
“Our conduct reflects maturity, confidence and clarity of purpose. In 2025 we acted when necessary and exercised restraint once the objective was achieved. That message was understood clearly—within the region and beyond,” the president said in his speech delivered to a joint session of the parliament.
In 2026, the president said last week in fact, when India began to amplify its proxy operations via Afghanistan, the Taliban regime saw with shock and awe, what Pakistan could do if pushed past a red line.
He said, until that week, they had tried every possible form of diplomacy to prevent an outbreak of military responses to terrorist incursions from Afghanistan, adding “For us war is always the last option. No state accepts serial attacks on its soil.”
However, he maintained that it was a sad fact that despite multiple diplomatic engagements by Pakistan and the friendly brother countries, the Afghan de facto regime continued to provide safe sanctuaries to a variety of terrorist groups including Al-Qaeda, BLA and TTP.
All promises they made in Doha, not to allow these terror groups to operate from Afghan soil, have been conveniently forgotten, he added.
The president stressed that they must choose to dismantle the terror groups that survived on conflict and its war economy, adding none of this would feed Afghanistan’s children or create opportunities for national cohesion.
“On our end, we have never treated the Afghan people as anything but kith and kin. We have never walked away from dialogue. The Afghan people need a break from endless wars. Don’t take away their choice for a future of prosperity connected to peace. I would urge them to stop being used by another country as a battlefield for their ambitions,” he added.
The president said the Article 51 of the UN Charter gave them the right to defend their sovereignty.
“We have let both India and Afghanistan see a fraction of our capabilities. Over the last three years our armed forces and law enforcement agencies have undertaken determined and intelligence-based operations against Indian sponsored foreign terrorists. This is not a counter-terrorism campaign the military is fighting alone. The entire nation stands united with its armed forces against cross-border terrorism,” he added.
The president further said that their action spelt out the limits to their tolerance for attacks from Afghanistan, particularly by Indian-sponsored TTP and BLA and their affiliates.
He emphasized that the soil of Pakistan was sacred and they would allow any entity—domestic or foreign—to use neighbouring territory to destabilise their peace.
The recent report of the United Nations Security Council’s monitoring team had described the presence of terrorist groups in Afghanistan as an extra-regional threat. This report warned that any other country could fall victim to another catastrophic attack if the issue was ignored, he added.