Nominated men are Prof Mohammad Ibrahim, Maulana Samiul Haq, Mufti Kifayatullah, Maulana Abdul Aziz and Imran Khan.
DERA ISMAIL KHAN/ ISLAMABAD:
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has proposed the names of five senior political and religious figures to act as intermediaries between them and a committee formed by the government for peace talks.
The announcement came a day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif mandated a four-member committee — comprising Irfan Siddiqui, Major (retd) Mohammad Amir, Rahimullah Yousafzai and Rustam Shah Mohmand — to initiate dialogue with the Taliban.
The group’s spokesman Shahidullah Shahid confirmed to the media that the TTP’s Central Shura on Saturday unanimously decided to nominate a five-member committee to begin interactions with the government.
The committee members are: chief of Jamaat-e-Islami’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chapter Prof. Mohammad Ibrahim, JUI-S chief Maulana Samiul Haq, JUI-F leader Mufti Kifayatullah, Lal Masjid prayer leader Maulana Abdul Aziz and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan.
“The Taliban Central Shura and leaders of the ‘Shura-e-Mehsud’ unanimously agreed to positively respond to the government’s dialogue offer,” the TTP spokesperson said. He added that the Central Shura meeting lasted for an hour during which it endorsed the decisions of the TTP’s Political Shura.
Prof. Ibrahim confirmed that the Taliban contacted him on Saturday and requested him to play his role. “We will act as intermediaries and messengers. We will deliver Taliban’s messages to the government and will convey the government’s messages to the Taliban leadership,” he said.
“We will also share our thoughts with both sides whenever we feel they disagree with each other. We will try to push the peace process forward,” he added. Prof. Ibrahim said he has contacted Maulana Samiul Haq to discuss how to proceed. “We will meet within a couple of days to chalk out a strategy,” he added.
Maulana Abdul Aziz also confirmed that the Taliban spokesperson contacted him by telephone on Saturday and requested him to mediate. “I have neither accepted nor refused to play the role of mediator. I will review the situation and will make a final decision,” he told The Express Tribune. “I think the Taliban’s demands, like the enforcement of Islamic Shariah, will never be accepted by the government,” he added.
Maulana Yousaf Shah, the personal secretary of Maulana Samiul Haq, also confirmed the development. The Taliban Shura decided that the five-member committee would negotiate with the government committee on behalf of the Taliban.
However, he added that the Taliban Shura has yet not decided its points which, when finalised, would be presented to the committee as agenda of proposed talks. The committee would not take decisions on behalf of the Taliban and would report to the Taliban Shura during negotiations, Shah said.
Mufti Kifayatullah refused to comment on the development.
Imran Khan, on the other hand, said the TTP should select their own representatives for peace talks. “We have full faith in the four-member committee announced by the govt,” he said on the micro-blogging website Twitter. “However, we will discuss how PTI can be of further assistance to further the dialogue in our core committee meeting on Monday.”
The coordinator of the government’s four-member committee, Irfan Siddiqui, said that they would meet to discuss the proposed names if the Taliban formally approached them. “Our committee will come up with our reaction whenever the Taliban formally convey us the names of their committee,” he told The Express Tribune.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2014.
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