Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar on Wednesday said that cowardly acts of terrorism would never weaken Pakistan’s resolve to deal with this menace.

He made the remarks while addressing the two-day Inter-Parliamentary Speakers’ Conference being held in Islamabad, where he mentioned the suicide blast in the federal capital and the attack on the Cadet College in Wana.

“Let me be very clear — these cowardly acts will never shake or weaken our national resolve to deal with this menace [terrorism],” he said.

“If anything, they reaffirm our conviction that dialogue, understanding and partnership are the only sustainable path of peace and security,” he asserted.

“We just witnessed two heinous acts of terrorism in Wana and Islamabad in the last 48 hours, resulting in the loss of 15 precious lives,” the minister said.

Condemning the attacks and extending sympathies to the victims’ families, Dar went on to say: “We categorically reject acts of terrorism in all forms and manifestations, whether these take place in Islamabad or anywhere in the world.”

Dar noted that terrorism was “one of the major global challenges of our time,” stressing that “Pakistan has been a bulwark against this menace that does not recognise any boundary or religion, gender, ethnicity or race”.

The suicide blast in Islamabad, the first in the federal capital in nearly three years, came against the backdrop of international events being hosted in the capital, including the Inter-Parliamentary Speakers’ Conference and the 6th Margalla Dialogue, while a tri-nation cricket series featuring Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe was also underway, with a match in Rawalpindi on Tuesday.

Officials said the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had claimed responsibility for the suicide attack in Islamabad. According to the police, a lone bomber blew himself up at the main entrance to the complex, located in the G-11 sector, after failing in repeated attempts to enter the premises, where hundreds of litigants and lawyers were present.

Meanwhile, security sources said on Wednesday that all the khawarij involved in the attack on Cadet College in Wana had been killed.

Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities in the past year, especially in KP and Balochistan, after TTP ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022 and vowed to attack security forces, police, and law enforcement agencies’ personnel.