TTP spokesperson says govt started war, should have initiated ceasefire

Taliban still wish to engage in peace dialogue to solve country's problems: Shahidullah Shahid.

NORTH WAZIRISTAN: The government has started the war when they should have initiated a ceasefire, said the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid, and the TTP political shura member Azam Tariq, Express News reported.

We have been fighting a defensive war for ten years, the spokesperson said during a press conference, adding that the government should stop this root-out operation immediately.

Shahid said that the Taliban still wish to engage in a the peace dialogue to solve the country’s problems. We were ready to talk before and are ready now, he stated.

The Taliban’s statements come after the government decided to pull the plug on the peace talks with the Taliban, as the prime minister and the military leadership decided that “proceeding with the peace talks amid the bombings and slaughter of soldiers would be injustice to terror victims.”

Following a wave of terrorist attacks on security forces, it has been decided that talks will only be held when the blood-spill stops, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar quoted the premier as saying.

At least 30 suspected insurgents were killed and several others injured as military jets and gunships bombed their hideouts in the North Waziristan and Khyber agencies, military sources said on February 20.