Pak asks Afghan to handover 76 wanted militants

Pakistan on Friday summoned officials of the Afghan embassy to the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi to lodge protest against the use of Afghan soil by terrorists to carry out attacks in Pakistan, Dwan news reported.

"Afg Embassy officials called in GHQ. Given list of 76 Ts hiding in Afg. Asked to take immediate action/be handed over to Pakistan," tweeted military's media wing DG ISPR Major-General Asif Ghafoor.

Afghanistan was asked to either take "immediate action" against the named terrorists or hand them over to Pakistan, he said.

The move comes two days after a senior Afghan diplomat was summoned to the Foreign Office in Islamabad to receive protest over the use of territory of his country for launching terrorist attacks in Pakistan.

The Afghan diplomat was given a demarche containing details of the recent terrorist attacks and supporting information.

United Nations and European Commission (UN&EC) Additional Secretary Tasnim Aslam in her meeting with the Afghan official had raised the "grave concern [Pakistan has] about the continuing terrorist attacks on Pakistani soil by the terrorist outfit Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JA) [operating] from its sanctuaries inside Afghanistan".

Pakistan shuts down border with Afghanistan

Minutes after the Pak army chief vowed to respond to the recent wave of terror in the country, security forces closed the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan for all sorts of communication indefinitely.

"The Pakistan-Afghanistan border closed with immediate effect till further orders due to security reasons," ISPR DG Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor tweeted shortly after Gen Qamar's statement.