File photo of Taliban fighters. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s Punjab chapter has issued a pamphlet warning the PML-N government not to become ‘part of the war’ by putting ‘their’ prisoners on death-row.
“The PML-N should learn from what happened to the Awami National Party (ANP),” warned the letter, adding that the death of TTP leader, Waliur Rehman was the first step in sabotaging negotiations, while sentencing prisoners’ will be enough to prove that the PML-N is part of the war.
“The prime minister and the interior minister should take this seriously,” reiterated the pamphlet. It stated that the issue of drone strikes and missing persons needed to be resolved and that if they continued ‘peace talks would remain an elusive dream’.
Dialogue overtures
• This month, the TTP said it is ready to hold talks with the government but on certain conditions. TTP Spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid said if the government gives a guarantee of putting forward ideal religious and intellectual leaders, the Taliban would be interested in holding talks.
• Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Munawar Hasan said that he is willing to act as a mediator between the government and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), provided that both parties made serious efforts towards dialogue.
• Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islami Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman has welcomed the offer of Tehreek-e-Taliban to talk to the government, calling it a step in the right direction.
• Awami National Party leader Asfandyar Wali Khan asserted it was important to initiate peace talks with the Taliban in order to establish peace in the war-torn province.
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@Khurram Awan: Later part of your letter bear more weight compare to earlier which is so stereotypical of past regime that lost to Team Musharraf politically. I see Tim and again a good advice loose its credibility by playing blame game of known corrupt politicians. Difficult as though but we must avoid any reference to show our unbiased opinion to get any consideration.
These people need to exterminated to have any chance of peace full stop, No compromise until THEY denounce there savagery, disarm and hand them selves in, Government policy should be no surrender..
Taliban is smarter than most Pakistani politicians. very smartly they have divided the political parties. First ANP and PPP were targeted and literally kept out of elections. Now its the turn of PMLN and PTI. neither Pakistani army nor political parties have the guts to face TTP. If main stream religious parties think that TTP will not target them, they are sadly mistaken. These parties will be the next in firing line. As it appears, TTP is almost in total control of Pakistan now. May be very soon they will start issuing dictates to dress codes to politicians and others. Don't get surprised if Sharif brothers are asked to grow Talibani style beards.
Jamat-e-Islami leadership including its chief, Maulana Fazul Rehman, Maulana Sami Ul Haq, Maulana Ladhanvi etc must to sent for talks with Talibans. Lets these scumbags negotiate with their allies; at best we will pray for their safe return.
@Hardliner Well said ! Killing prisoners would be a simple act of revenge, which would exacerbate instead of suppressing the TTP. This tit-for-tat business is escalating to the point where the end of Pakistan is in sight. Is that what we want ? That's certainly what the external enemies of Pakistan want. All these armchair generals who advocate military reprisals against the TTP, should look at our recent history. Despite the best efforts of the army and air force, the Taliban are growing in strength. The reasons are simple to understand. Incompetent and dishonest government which believes might is right, Pakistani leaders who unthinkingly follow dictates of Western leaders (just as their forefathers did in the days of British India), etc. To adapt the words of Cassius: "The fault is not in the stars'n'stripes but in ourselves that we are underlings." Even the stars'n'stripes is unable to defeat the TTP's brothers the Afghan Taliban, and is withdrawing with its tail between its legs. So what chance have the Pakistan army got ?
Recognise that the TTP is an auto-immune disease like cancer, where the body (nation) is fighting itself. And just like cancer, it is very difficult to eradicate.
Rather than beating our chests in mock-bravery and vowing a fight to the finish, stop and think about a permanent solution. Repent for bombing innocent civilians in FATA which our military did under the quisling Musharraf. Offer the same people education, jobs, hospitals, electricity, secure and prosperous futures and watch in amazement when they accept !
The TTP are just like us in their needs, hopes and desires - because they ARE us. Stop pretending that they are from another planet. And all this Malala malarkey will also come to an abrupt end. the TTP are not stupid. They recognise that if their own children are to become doctors, engineers, political and social leaders etc, then they NEED education to achieve these objectives. The brave, resolute and eloquent Malala is of the same blood as the TTP. She is a shining example of the future of the TTP.
They have no remorse for killing thousands of innocent Pakistanis, but they have the audacity to threaten the government of Pakistan on planning to execute their criminals. To make matters worse, they regularly claim responsibility and boast about the killings. We must let these extremist organizations know that we will not bow down to terrorism. We must stand united against those who pose a threat to the safety of our nations. We stand by the government of Pakistan and fully support their efforts to counter these homegrown militants. We reiterate what Jen Psaki, Department of State Spokesperson, said recently: “We have a very strong ongoing dialogue with Pakistan regarding all aspects of the relationship and our shared interests, including security and counterterrorism cooperation. And we work together to address each other’s concerns. As we move forward with our counterterrorism operations, it is critically important that we continue to work closely with our partners throughout the world, providing them with the support they need, helping build their capacity to carry out counterterrorism operations in their own countries.”
Ali Khan
@Hardliner: Hey what do you think you are a defense analyst?You pretend to know all about ground realities so please tell me from where are these barbarics getting money?From where are they getting weapons?How on earth they are conducting so sophisticated OPs in my country?Now please don't blame the Pakistan Army for it.Do some research on TTP because its different and separate from afghan taliban and that you will know for sure after 2014.
Will Talibans stop killing innocents right now if they can find a way to do that now? So they kill 30 to 40 innocents a month right now and they say they are not really at war at the moment? These monsters will kll 95% of the country if they could. If its possible to negotiate with Iblees then yes please go ahead and talk to these guys.
Talks are necessary but only from a position of strength. First establish who is calling the shots, then offer talks. It seems that the TTP feels that they are the stronger party, and they may very well be, given the apathetic federal government and a paralyzed security apparatus.
We have been fighting Taliban for more than ten years and have only dragged ourselves from facing the fire to the center of fire. The frequency and intensity of terrorism has been increased enormously. The range of TTP's activities have now spread to the every corner of this country and still we think the arm campaign would find us solution; it looks day dreaming to me. All we have done proven counterproductive.
"If you want to strike you must strike hard". To resolve the problem through military strength we must have hard striking power. Here one question arises "Do we have that striking power?" analysis of last ten year shows that we do not have and if we have then we do not have the will.
I do not say that the dialogues will definitely bring us solution but at least it is another option. We can hope for good.
However expressing the ethnicity of any group seems unnecessary. The words "Punjab Chapter" look OK and clearly explain the position but words "Punjabi Taliban" show some racial hatred. I have never read or heard the term Pushtoon Taliban or any other Taliban on any credible media as Talibans are Talibans.
@Rana:
What if those "innocent people" include some of your own family members??? would you still be that aggressive? Truth is that keyboard gangsters like you know nothing of the ground realities and yet comment like an expert defense analyst. Kindly let the sane people do the thinking so that peace can actually prevail.
“The PML-N should learn from what happened to the Awami National Party (ANP),”
Classical warning style!!!!
i think it is good oppurtunity .... goverment take serousiouly and Dialogue is the best option .... and ji & jui also agree for meditor .. so what the problem with goverment not talk with tailban ....
Admirable moral stance taken by the Taliban in their efforts to abolish capital punishment in Pakistan.
They are simply testing the resolve of the establishment...........the political will is non-existent.
Classic threat line!!!!
"The PML-N should learn from what happened to the Awami National Party (ANP),”
Tantamount to war? Isn't this war already?
Many of the Punjabi Taliban are those whose Relatives were killed in Musharraf Led Operations especially in Jamia Hafsa Operation. Also it is the reason of frustration, poverty and lack of opportunities that led to this kind of development. The country where Poor will go to madressah and will not be taught any basic skills of science and technology and they are treated like animals so we could expect more of the militant organizations in future. Change the Education System. Bring all segments of the society into the wider circle and extremism will ultimately end. If you do a survey then most of the Taliban belong from Poor Families and it is a school of thought for So Called Liberal and Anglophile elite that what are the reasons that lower segments of the society are dragged into such mess and who is mainly responsible for it as well.
And what is beheading human beings by these creatures called !!??
First of all we can't capture them, even if we capture them we can't prosecute them and even if we have prosecuted them and found them guilty, we can't execute them. Might as well let them take control and stop pretending that we are in charge.
Dialogue with murderers is the same as murder itself.
No compromise with these animals, PMLN have to take some courageous steps to eradicate scumbags with full force, no doubt some innocent people will adversely be effected during the process!!
If history is anything that we can take clue, then the Sharif brothers will consider this threat seriously and nothing will happen actually against Taliban.They will never dare to trade off action against Taliban with peace in Punjab which makes the basis for their political future.