Pakistan Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar said on Wednesday that there has been an increase in terror incidents in Pakistan since the Taliban came to power in 2021, Dawn reported.

Kakar linked the ongoing deportation drive of illegal immigrants to counter-terrorism actions, reported Dawn, a Pakistani English-language newspaper.

The Pakistan Caretaker Prime Minister, while addressing the media in Islamabad, said, “After the establishment of the interim Afghan government (Taliban) in August 2021, we had a strong hope that there would be long-term peace in Afghanistan. […] Strict action would be taken against Pakistan-opposing groups, especially the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, and they would absolutely not be allowed to use Afghan soil against Pakistan.”

“But unfortunately, after the establishment of the interim Afghan govt, there has been a 60 per cent increase in terror incidents and 500pc rise in suicide attacks in Pakistan,” he said.

He further said: “In the past two years, 2,267 innocent citizens’ lives have been lost to this tragic bloodshed, for which the terrorists of TTP are responsible who are conducting cowardly attacks on Pakistani using Afghan soil.”

“During this time, 15 Afghan citizens were also among the people involved in suicide attacks. Other than this, till now, 64 Afghan citizens were killed while fighting Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies during the counterterrorism campaign,” he added.

Kakar did not provide any further details about the alleged involvement of Afghan nationals in any specific terror attack.

His statement comes after the country witnessed a sharp rise in terror incidents during the past week, including at Mianwali Training Air Base claimed by the Tehreek-i-Jihad Pakistan and an ambush in Gwadar claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Front, while no group claimed responsibility for attacks in Dera Ismail Khan, as per Dawn.

Kakar went on to recall that the above details were in the knowledge of the Taliban.

The premier said that according to a monitoring report released in July this year by the United Nations, there was “clear mention of TTP centres in Afghanistan and increase in its activities against Pakistan”.

The prime minister added that even after reassurances from the Afghan government of taking action against the TTP, “no actions were taken against anti-Pakistan groups”. “Instead, in a few instances, clear evidence of enabling terrorism also came forward,” he said without providing further details, as per Dawn.

US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet on November 15 in San Francisco in what will be the rival powers’ first summit in a year, informed sources said Wednesday.

The two sides have not formally announced the date but have made arrangements to hold the meeting on the sidelines of the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which the United States is hosting, according to a US official and a Washington-based diplomat, both speaking on condition of anonymity.

The two governments have not yet publicly confirmed the Xi-Biden summit but have given wide indications that they expect it to take place.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on October 31 that Washington hoped for a “constructive conversation in San Francisco” between the two presidents.

The summit would be the first between the two leaders since they held lengthy talks in November 2022 in Bali on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit.

Biden and Xi both spoke positively about those talks, saying they were looking for ways to avoid conflict.

But tensions have repeatedly resurfaced, with the United States protesting earlier this year what it described as a Chinese surveillance balloon over US soil.

China in turn has been outraged by growing US pressure including restrictions on high-tech chips, which Washington fears Beijing will put to military use.

Tensions are particularly high over Taiwan, the self-ruling democracy that Beijing claims and has not ruled out taking by force.

China has staged major military exercises in response to pro-Taiwan actions by leaders in the US Congress.

Google and major telecom operators in Europe have urged the European Commission to classify Apple’s iMessage as a “core” service, requiring it to be compatible with rival chat apps. They claim that iMessage meets the criteria of the Digital Markets Act and should benefit European consumers. Currently, only Apple users can communicate via iMessage, leading to concerns about loyalty and compatibility. Google has long sought to break iMessage’s exclusivity to Apple devices, arguing that it is anti-competitive. Apple defends its decision, prioritizing user privacy and data security, and stating that iMessage is the most popular messaging service in the US.