Pak Asks Afghanistan Govt to Hand Over Gurudwara Attack Mastermind

A heavily armed ISIS suicide bomber stormed the gurdwara in Kabul on 25 March, killing 25 Sikhs.

File photo: An Afghan policeman stands guard at the entrance of the gurudwara after the attack.

(Photo: AP)

Pakistan on Thursday, 9 April, asked Afghanistan to hand over the chief of the Islamic State's Khorasan unit, Aslam Farooqi, the mastermind behind a deadly terror attack on a prominent gurudwara in Kabul last month.

The Foreign Office said that the demand was conveyed to the Afghan ambassador in Islamabad who was called at the foreign ministry.

A heavily armed Islamic State-Khorasan suicide bomber stormed the gurdwara in the heart of Afghanistan's capital on 25 March, killing 25 Sikhs and injuring eight others.

Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security earlier this month said Farooqi, also known as Abdullah Orakzai, was arrested along with 19 other commanders in a “complex operation”.

“The ambassador of Afghanistan to Pakistan was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and conveyed Pakistan’s views with regard to the arrest of ISIS-K leader, Aslam Farooqi, by the Afghan authorities on 5 April, 2020,” a statement issued by the Foreign Office said.

“It was underscored to the ambassador that since Farooqi was involved in anti-Pakistan activities in Afghanistan, he should be handed over to Pakistan for further investigations,” the statement added.

It said that Pakistan had been expressing its concerns over the activities of the group, “which were clearly detrimental to the country”.

Pakistan's position was being regularly shared with the government of Afghanistan and others concerned, it added. Pakistan also said that the two sides should coordinate actions against terrorism through established mechanisms between them.