![Members of Pakistan's Hazara community protest in Quetta on January 6, 2021, displaying photographs of coal miners killed in an ISIS-K attack in Machh. [Banaras Khan/AFP]](/cnmi_st/images/2025/02/19/49220-hazara-quetta-isis-739_416.webp)
ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan has intensified operations against the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) as part of an ongoing global crackdown, arresting key operatives and handing out prison sentences, security sources said.
On February 12, a regional antiterrorism court in Punjab's Sahiwal district sentenced ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) operative Usman Saeed to 31 years in prison.
ISIS-K is the group's regional chapter in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Punjab police's counterterrorism department said Saeed was wanted in connection with a terror incident and had been planning a "sectarian attack" in Jhang district, News Drum reported.
His arrest is part of Pakistan's intensified response to ISIS-K's violence, which includes a June 2023 suicide bombing at a political rally in Bajaur district that killed over 60 people.
Bajaur has remained a critical hotspot for ISIS-K activities in Pakistan, with the group orchestrating several deadly attacks in the region.
Pakistan's sustained crackdown on terrorist groups, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and al-Qaeda, also has significantly weakened ISIS-K's regional presence, according to security officials and experts.
This state of affairs benefits both Pakistan and Afghanistan, they said.
International crackdown
In a recent report, the United Nations Security Council's Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team highlighted a "significant setback" for ISIS-K.
Last summer, Pakistani security forces thwarted the group's attempt to establish an external operations branch within Pakistan, arresting several "high-profile" ISIS-K operatives and dealing a blow to the group's regional network.
Among the detainees were "central figures in the recruitment, travel and funding of fighters and suicide bombers, including those involved in the attacks in Kerman, Islamic Republic of Iran, and Moscow," the report said.
Pakistan's crackdown on ISIS-K is part of a broader international effort to dismantle its central leadership and regional affiliates, according to counterterrorism officials.
"ISIS-K's operations in the region, including the [January 2024] attack in Kerman and [March 2024] attack in Moscow, underscore the need for coordinated global efforts to dismantle the group," Islamabad-based senior counterterrorism official Muhammad Hafeez said.
International law enforcement agencies have intensified efforts to curb the influence of ISIS and its affiliates in various countries.
In February, a British court found Farishta Jami guilty of terrorism offenses after planning to travel to Afghanistan to join ISIS-K, per Counter Terrorism Policing.
Also in February, a Swedish court sentenced a man for "participation in a terrorist organization (ISIS)" in Somalia and "financing terrorism."
It was the first such conviction under strengthened anti-terror laws enacted after the 2017 Stockholm attack that killed five people, AFP reported.
Türkiye's Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya on February 5 announced the arrest of 164 suspects in coordinated raids across 21 provinces, Daily Sabah reported.
According to a news report, Pakistan's permanent representative to the United Nations, Munir Akram, says that his country wants to submit a resolution to the United Nations against India and the Taliban's support for terrorism. Akram added that in this complaint, India and the Afghan Taliban (the current government of Afghanistan) will be accused of playing a role in exporting terrorism from the Afghan soil. He stressed that the next step would be to expose India's support for terrorism at the United Nations. He made these remarks after the Baloch Liberation Army, in a cowardly act, blocked a train traveling from Quetta to Peshawar, took the soldiers and other Pakistani security forces traveling in the train hostage for hours and then killed them. The incident has led to widespread criticism of the failure of the government and security agencies to maintain security in Pakistan. Amidst this criticism, the Pakistani army and the Foreign Ministry immediately said that the attackers were in touch with their planners in Afghanistan. This is their news, but you see how evil Pakistan is. In fact, the foundation of terrorism was laid in Pakistan. Since its inception, it has been sending terrorists to India and Kashmir, and for 46 years now, it has been training Afghan rebel groups and sending them against every central government in Afghanistan. In 2001, the international coalition came, created the national army, national police, commandos, and special forces for Afghanistan, but i
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Ahsan Wagan, Pakistan’s ambassador to Turkmenistan, has been denied entry to the United States and was deported from Los Angeles despite having a valid visa and full travel documents. According to Pakistani media, Wagan has traveled to Los Angeles for a vacation. According to these reports, the US immigration system identified “suspicious visa records” in his file, which led to his being denied entry and sent back to his place of origin of travel. However, American officials have not announced the exact reason for this decision.
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For God's sake, do you still believe in Pakistan’s words? Do you have wisdom? Wasn't it Pakistan that supported terrorist groups during the 20 yearlong presence of the international coalition in Afghanistan? If anyone knows even on a child's level, he will never trust Pakistan. It was Pakistan that, on one side received money from the United States and NATO, and on the other side, it spent the same money on training and equipping fighters. Then, they were being sent to Afghanistan, and inside Afghanistan they used to attack the international coalition and Afghan soldiers, as well as civilians. Senior Pakistani intelligence officials have said in interviews that they defeated the Soviets with American money and weapons, and this time (in 20 years) they will defeat the United States with American money and weapons. I do not believe Pakistan's claims that ISIS and so and so are carrying out terrorist attacks inside Pakistan. The Pakistani intelligence agency itself uses the warring groups to its advantage, and when such groups deny launching attacks on innocent positions, they then slander and kill them. The worst terrorist group and system in the world is the Pakistani intelligence system and its dirty army, which on one hand pretends to support democracy and on the other hand plays a double game with free countries.
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