ISLAMABAD:
The government has constituted a bipartisan parliamentary committee to figure how to open peace talks with militants operating from the country’s tribal badlands, including talking to the local Taliban.
At an all party conference (APC), held in Islamabad in September this year, Pakistan’s top political and military leaders had decided to seek peace with their ‘own people’ including militant groups operating in the tribal areas.
The meeting proposed to form a panel of parliamentarians to agree on a mechanism for approaching the Taliban.
National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza constituted an 11-member special committee to oversee the implementation of a resolution of the APC, said a statement issued here on Friday.
The committee will make public its progress on implementation on a monthly basis.
The constitution of the committee will remove a key objection by the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on the government that is already facing criticism for a controversy over secret memos.
The panel will have three members from the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), two from PML-N and one each from six parties including a group of parliamentarians from the tribal areas.
The committee will comprise MNAs Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Sherry Rehman, Dr Ayatullah Durrani, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan, Dr Attiya Inayatullah, Syed Haider Abbas Rizvi, Bushra Gohar, Attaur-Rehman, Haji Khuda Bux Rajar and Munir Khan Orakzai.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 19th, 2011.
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