Pakistan rejects BRICS declaration, says no 'safe haven' on its soil

Under mounting international pressure to act against the terror groups, Pakistan on Tuesday rejected a declaration by the BRICS nations, including China, saying there was no "safe haven" for terrorists on its soil.

Leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations at the BRICS Summit in China's Xiamen yesterday and expressed concern over threat posed by terror groups, including those based in Pakistan.

The 43-page declaration, adopted at the end of the BRICS plenary, expressed "concern" over the security situation in the region and the violence caused by the Taliban, ISIS, al- Qaeda and its affiliates including Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Hizb ut-Tahrir.

"We reject the declaration (released by member countries) at the BRICS Summit," Pakistan's Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir said during a meeting of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Defence.

Dastgir claimed that Pakistan has no "safe haven" for terrorists on its soil.
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