Negotiating with the Taliban: ‘Give a time frame for peace talks’

Former deputy prime minister says he hoped negotiations with the Taliban were successful.

LAHORE: “A time frame is necessary for the committee announced by the prime minister to hold result-oriented negotiations with Taliban,” former deputy prime minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi said on Thursday. He was addressing provincial presidents and general secretaries of the PML-Q. He later addressed newsmen at a press conference. Elahi said the reorganisation of PML-Q would be completed by February. He said a convention of the party’s leaders would be held in March. Elahi said he hoped negotiations with the Taliban were successful. He said a committee constituted by the prime minister should be given a time frame to complete the talks.  He said it had been six months since the all parties conference called by the prime minister had agreed to talk to the Taliban but there had been no results so far.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2014.