Pakistan will do everything it can to stamp out terrorism, top Pakistani diplomat Maleeha Lodhi has said.

“Let me be clear. We will be relentless in rooting out terrorism, whosoever its sponsors, external or internal,” Dawn quoted Lodhi as saying at the UN Security Council.

Lodhi is Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN.

“Any effort to destabilize parts of our country or to attack its territorial integrity will be responded to forcefully,” she said during a debate on the situation in Afghanistan.

She told the 15-member council that Pakistan condemned the recent rise in violence in Afghanistan and reaffirmed Islamabad’s commitment to cooperate with Kabul in fighting terrorism.

Lodhi said Pakistan would play a constructive role in promoting peace and security in Afghanistan.

“We welcome the first, tentative steps taken in recent months to advance the reconciliation process.

“Pakistan will do everything possible to encourage this process,” she said. “Success will require reciprocal accommodation and above all, strategic patience.”