Nisar keeps opposition in the loop

Says opposition will be briefed about talks with Taliban in the next meeting.

ISLAMABAD:

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Thursday took opposition groups into confidence over the status of talks with the Taliban.

It took the government some time to kickstart the much awaited process of dialogue, as decided by political leadership of the country in an all parties conference (APC), and on Thursday it apprised the leaders of  the opposition in a detailed briefing in parliament.

Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Khurshid Shah, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Dr Farooq Sattar, Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, Tariqullah Khan, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad and Muhammad Ejazul Haq attended the briefing.

Nisar was directed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to take the opposition into confidence over the status of negotiations with the Taliban.

The minister said that procedure for the proposed talks with the militants was being finalised and he would brief the political parties in the next meeting.

While talking about the delay, he said the dialogue process was derailed by a string of terror acts in the country. He said that 37 Taliban groups are currently working in the country whereas there are about 57 insurgent groups.

After the meeting, Khurshid Shah told the media that the opposition had given the government mandate for holding talks with the Taliban. The opposition would soon hold another session with the government in this regard, he added.

“The initial dialogue process has started,” he quoted Nisar as saying. He said that the talks were delayed due to killing of Major General Sanaullah Khan Niazi and the suicide attack on Peshawar Church.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said that his party had been asking for the process for some time now.

Parliamentary leader of MQM, Dr Farooq Sattar, said that MQM is confident that the government’s efforts regarding talks with Taliban would bear fruit.

“The government is serious and we are satisfied with the progress so far,” Jan Achakzai, a spokesperson for JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman told The Express Tribune.


Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2013.