Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said on Monday that the Afghan chargé d’affaires was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Mofa) and issued a strong demarche over the terrorist attack on a Rangers facility in Karachi.

On Saturday night, terrorists attacked the local headquarters of the Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar area, during which three security personnel were martyred and four were injured, according to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

ISPR said the attack was carried out by terrorists “belonging to Indian proxy Jamaatul Ahrar” (JuA), adding that three terrorists were killed in retaliatory action while one was arrested, whom it identified as an Afghan national.

Andrabi confirmed Islamabad’s summoning of the envoy in a statement on Monday, in response to media queries regarding Pakistan’s demarche to the Afghan Taliban regime.

He added that a “similar demarche” was conveyed by Pakistan’s Ambassador Ubaidur Rehman Nizamani to the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“These demarches were issued in light of the fact that Afghan nationals, including one apprehended alive, participated in this attack, proving yet again that Afghan soil and Afghan nationals continue to be used to orchestrate terrorist attacks inside Pakistan,” the FO spokesperson highlighted.

Separately, Pakistan also carried out an intelligence-based ground operation along the Pakistan-Afghan border in Bajaur overnight, followed by “calibrated strikes” against the hideouts and safe havens of terrorists belonging to JuA and Fitna al Khawarij, killing 29 terrorists, according to Information Minister Attaullah Tarar.

Fitna al Khawarij is the term used by the state to designate members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Tarar said khawarji Commander Khan Farosh aka Zabal and three other terrorists were killed in the Bajaur operation, while 25 terrorists were killed during “precision strikes” on three targets in Afghanistan’s Paktia, Paktika and Kunar.

Following Saturday’s Karachi attack, security sources said the arrested terrorist had identified himself as Usman Ali and revealed that he had come to Pakistan from Jalalabad in Afghanistan around a week ago.

According to the sources, he admitted that he belonged to JuA, whose commander in Afghanistan he identified as Ahrar Moulvi. Moreover, the sources noted, the held terrorist said he and his companions were trained in Afghanistan.

According to information available on the United Nations Security Council’s website, the JuA is based in Nangarhar, Afghanistan. JuA was formed by Abdul Wali aka Omar Khalid Khorasani in 2014 after his split from TTP, but both groups joined hands in 2024. Although no formal separation occurred after a dispute between the two surfaced in the media in January 2025, no significant positions were allocated to the JuA when the TTP announced its appointments for 2025 in February.

There has been a resurgence in terrorism in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021.

Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration in Kabul to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil that are used for attacks in Pakistan. Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded.

On the night of February 26, following unprovoked firing by the Afghan Taliban from across the border, Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq against terrorist hideouts.

The FO had last issued a demarche to the Afghan chargé d’affaires in May after a suicide attack on the Fateh Khel police post in Bannu claimed the lives of 15 police personnel.