Exercise in futility: TTP rejects peace talks
TTP will issue a formal response later.
ISLAMABAD:
The Tehreek-e- Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has ruled out the possibility of talks with the government, sticking to its stance that it could not contemplate the same until security officials stopped targeting its leaders, a senior leader of the group said on Tuesday.
Ehsanullah Ehsan, the group’s former spokesman, told The Express Tribune that the TTP will issue a formal response later.
At the same time, Ehsan heaped scorn at the leaders of both Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam factions Maulana Samiul Haq and Maulana Fazlur Rehman and accused them of pursuing their political agenda under the pretext of the talks.
The TTP leader claimed his group had earlier offered peace talks with the government but the “Pakistani rulers are puppets of the West, they are their slaves and we cannot talk to such people.”
“We have strong evidence that the government and the security forces are behind the killing of our leaders,” Ehsan said via phone from an undisclosed location.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 1st, 2014.
The Tehreek-e- Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has ruled out the possibility of talks with the government, sticking to its stance that it could not contemplate the same until security officials stopped targeting its leaders, a senior leader of the group said on Tuesday.
Ehsanullah Ehsan, the group’s former spokesman, told The Express Tribune that the TTP will issue a formal response later.
At the same time, Ehsan heaped scorn at the leaders of both Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam factions Maulana Samiul Haq and Maulana Fazlur Rehman and accused them of pursuing their political agenda under the pretext of the talks.
The TTP leader claimed his group had earlier offered peace talks with the government but the “Pakistani rulers are puppets of the West, they are their slaves and we cannot talk to such people.”
“We have strong evidence that the government and the security forces are behind the killing of our leaders,” Ehsan said via phone from an undisclosed location.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 1st, 2014.