Latest US drone an attack on Taliban talks: Pervaiz Rasheed

'Stopping Nato supplies will not stop the drone attacks from happening,' says Rasheed.

LAHORE: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervaiz Rasheed stated on Saturday that the US drone attack on November 1 that killed Hakimullah Mehsud was an attack on the peace negotiations with the Taliban, Express News reported.

He said this while talking to the press in Lahore and further stated, “Stopping Nato supplies will not stop the drone attacks from happening.”

He also remarked that “peace talks should not stop as peace will only come through these negotiations.”

Dispelling the anecdotes regarding government’s intent and unnecessary delay in initiating negotiations with Taliban, Rashid had previously assured that the formal negotiations with Taliban would begin soon as the government has overcome the hurdles in the dialogue process.

“There is absolutely no question of government’s dubious intention in beginning dialogue process with Taliban as it’s a decision extracted by All Parties Conference (APC), to which all of us are committed so no one should raise doubts regarding its implementation,” the information minister had said.

He had added that “the process of talks will be a complicated one as it’s not an ordinary matter to talk about, we took time to take everyone on board and today all of us are on same page and developing consensus on all decision will be government’s top priority as the talks headway”.

Talking to media on November 1 at the Parliament House, the minister had said that decision to initiate dialogue was taken unanimously by the political leadership of the country and the government was mandated for the purpose.

Rasheed had rebuffed Opposition’s criticism, saying they had nothing better to do than to launch verbal attacks on the government by resorting to futile censure.

“Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan is the focal person for the dialogue process and he would soon take media into confidence on the issue,”Rasheed had said.

The minister had said talks would be held in the larger national interest and the media should avoid reporting things which could create ill will before their start. He had said Pakistan would itself devise policies for the eradication of terrorism from the country and there would be no foreign input.