“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will make the final decision on whether to hold talks with TTP or not by the end of month,” says Interior Minister Chuadhry Nisar Ali Khan. PHOTO: FILE
A day after the Taliban denied holding any secret talks with the government, the interior minister followed suit with a denial of its own.
“The government is not, at the moment, engaged in talks on any level with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan,” Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said here on Sunday. He added that the government would decide whether to hold talks with the banned outfit later this month.
“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will make the final decision on whether to hold talks with TTP or not by the end of month,” the interior minister said in a brief handwritten statement sent to The Express Tribune.
Referring to media reports that clandestine talks went on between the government and Taliban, Nisar said the government had no intention of keeping the nation in the dark.
“Talks with TTP are a sensitive matter … spreading information prematurely can be detrimental to the effort,” he said, adding that the government would make an announcement before it enters negotiations with the banned group.
On Saturday, the TTP categorically denied that the group was engaged in secret talks with the government.
“No contacts have ever been made between us [and the government], nor have we received any offer to initiate peace talks,” Shahidullah Shahid, the group’s main spokesman, had said.
Nisar’s statement coincides with Fazlur Rehman’s offer for assistance in negotiations with the TTP. In a meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz last week, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief expressed wish to facilitate peace talks with the militant outfit.
The government, however, has yet to decide whether to engage religious leaders in the proposed negotiation process.
“The government still has to do its homework for the peace talks … there is no question of bringing Fazl into the process at this stage,” Interior Ministry Spokesperson Omar Hameed Khan told The Express Tribune.
Khan said Prime Minster Nawaz is set to visit Karachi next week. “Upon his return, he will meet the leaders of all major parties in Parliament and take them into confidence before making a decision on talks with TTP,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nisar, in his statement, said the government had finalised its security strategy, including ‘how, when and where to go for talks with the Taliban.’
Published in The Express Tribune, September 2nd, 2013.
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TTP no longer care about the former sympathizers.
Having yourselves installed in power is one thing..............delivering is another. Upto now PML-N has not delivered for the people.