ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s acting UN envoy Usman Jadoon said this week the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group, which Islamabad accuses of operating from safe havens in neighboring Afghanistan, was poised to become Al-Qaeda’s regional and global arm, with a far-reaching “terrorist agenda” that threatened international security.

Islamabad says the TTP uses Afghanistan as a base to launch attacks, accusing the ruling Taliban administration of providing safe havens to the group along their shared border. Pakistan also says Afghans have been found to be involved in multiple recent attacks, amid a militancy spike. The Taliban deny militants are using Afghan soil to launch attacks or that Afghans are involved in militancy in Pakistan. They say Pakistan’s security challenges are a domestic issue. 

The TTP is separate from the Afghan Taliban movement but pledges loyalty to the group that now rules Afghanistan after the US-led international forces withdrew in 2021.

“Given its long association with Al Qaeda, the TTP could emerge as Al Qaeda’s arm with a regional and global terrorist agenda,” Jadoon said on Thursday while addressing a UN Security Council meeting. 

“Terrorism within and from Afghanistan poses the single most serious threat to the country, to the region and the world … While the Afghan interim government is fighting Daesh, the threat from various other terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, TTP and others is yet to be addressed.”

Jadoon said the TTP was fast emerging as an “umbrella organization” for other terror groups in the area with the “clear objective of destabilizing Afghanistan’s neighbors.”

“We have evidence of its collaboration with other terrorist groups like the Majeed brigade which is utilizing terrorism to disrupt Pakistan’s economic cooperation with China, especially the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor,” the diplomat added, referring to the suicide squad of the separatist Baloch Liberation Army which has been fighting a decades long insurgency in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province. 

Jadoon said with 6,000 fighters, TTP was the largest listed militant group operating close to Pakistan’s borders.

“In countering the TTP cross-border operations, our security and border officials have confiscated some of the modern weapons acquired by the Afghan interim government from stocks left behind by foreign forces,” he said, adding that the TTP also received external support and financing from Pakistan’s adversary India. 

Last month, the Pakistan army said it had killed three militants trying to infiltrate its frontier with Afghanistan, calling on Kabul to ensure “effective border management” on its side. 

A deportation drive launched last year against Afghans living in Pakistan and border restrictions have also led to a spike in tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban rulers in Afghanistan. 

ISLAMABAD: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has discussed various proposals with officials at Chinese information technology giant Huawei to turn the provincial capital into Pakistan’s first smart city, Radio Pakistan reported on Friday.

Sharif is on a week-long visit to China from Dec. 8-15 and on Thursday visited Huawei Technologies in the Longgang district of Shanghai. Longtime ally China has invested heavily in Pakistan through the $65 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that encompasses infrastructure, energy and other projects and is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative.

“During the visit, it was decided, in collaboration with Huawei, to transform Lahore into Pakistan’s first state-of-the-art smart city,” Radio Pakistan reported on Sharif’s visit to the headquarters of the Chinese company.

“Chief Minister discussed various proposals and recommendations with Huawei’s President of Government Affairs Mr. Wang Chengdong, or turning Lahore into a modern digital city, including e-commerce, ecosystem production, and the digitization of the health and education sectors.”

According to the report, Huawei officials also assured full cooperation in setting up an assembly and manufacturing plant in Punjab.

A smart city is an urban area where technology and data collection help improve quality of life as well as the sustainability and efficiency of city operations. Smart city technologies used by local governments include information and communication technologies (ICT) and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Areas of city operations where ICT, IoT and other smart technologies increasingly play an important role include transportation, energy and infrastructure.

Technologies to collect data, including real-time data, are central to smart city initiatives and the benefits they promise. Data-driven insights help local governments improve urban planning and the deployment of city services, ranging from waste management to public transportation, leading to better quality of life for residents.

More efficient city services can also help cut carbon emissions, contributing to global efforts to address climate change while also improving local air quality. In addition, smart city solutions can be an engine for economic growth, as better infrastructure and technological innovation can encourage job creation and business opportunities.