Initiating dialogue: Process likely to begin this week

JUI-S spokesperson says TTP has not stopped its attacks in absence of ‘much-needed ceasefire’.

KARACHI: This week the formal process of dialogue between the government and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is likely to commence, according to the central spokesperson for the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Samiul Haq (JUI-S) Maulana Syed Muhammad Yousuf Shah. Addressing a news conference on Monday, he said the TTP has not stopped its attacks in the absence of a ‘much-needed ceasefire’. The party has announced a strike in Karachi on Friday against the targeted killing of party leader Maulana Usman Yar Khan. “His murder was linked with the mission for dialogue given to his party head and orchestrated by those who do not wish to see that happen,” said Maulana Yousuf. “Maulana [Samiul Haq’s] mission has not ended” and he will continue to coordinate between the two sides, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2014.