Maulana Fazl questions TTP’s ‘presence’ in tribal areas

Talks with TTP to broker a deal unlikely to be successful

PESHAWAR:

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Saturday while referring to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) talks with the government asked “how did those who held weapons come back to the tribal areas without negotiations and agreement?”

Earlier, this month, it was reported that the government was preparing a “contingency plan” to deal with potential resurgence of the terrorist outfit after reports suggested that some Taliban fighters had been seen in the Swat valley.

Although the government had been holding talks with the TTP for months to broker some kind of a deal, prospects of such an agreement were grim, sources familiar with the development had told The Express Tribune.

One of the main stumbling blocks included the TTP’s insistence on reversing the merger of erstwhile tribal areas with the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. However, Pakistani negotiators term the demand as a red line as any changes have to be passed by the country’s parliament.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had also expressed his apprehensions about the success of the talks, while Pakistan’s special envoy on Afghanistan Ambassador Muhammad Sadiq had admitted the peace process was at a “nascent stage”.

Addressing a general body meeting of his party on Saturday, Fazl referred to the talks between the authorities and the TTP.

“There were talks about negotiations. How did those [TTP terrorists] who held weapons came back to the tribal areas without negotiations and agreement?”
He said JUI-F was ready for peace but it also wanted its security, noting that “people on the other side were armed”.

While referring to the “hidden forces”, the JUI-F chief said such an environment was created in the country where political parties were “imposed” who had no interest in Quran and Sunnah.

He recalled once there was a time when Pakistan gave loan to China and lamented that now the situation was vice versa.

“Today Pakistan is on a constant decline. The IMF has ‘held us from our neck’ and [making us] accept its demands.”

He once again alleged that PTI chairman and former premier Imran Khan received funding from the United States and India.

Fazl said his party did not follow a “foreign agenda”, adding that revolt only occurred when a country goes bankrupt.

“There are forces in our provinces who are waiting to take advantage of this [situation].”