No proposal under consideration for Taliban office

Senators from the opposition walk out, demand Chief Minister K-P to address the statement made by his minister.

ISLAMABAD: Neither is there any proposal under consideration nor any request made for an office for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the upper house of parliament was informed a day after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan said that no such move will be made without consultation of the federal government.

The issue was brought to the limelight by a call attention notice by senators of the Awami National Party (ANP) regarding the offer to the Taliban to set up an office in Peshawar by Minister of Health Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Shaukat Yousufzai.

Replying to questions by Senators Afrasiyab Khattak, Muhammad Zahid Khan and Haji Adeel, Minister of State for Education and Training Muhammad Balighur Rehman informed the Senate that the government had not been contacted so far by anyone to setup any office for the Taliban in any part of the country.

“These are only statements that circulate through the press,” he said, adding that the government did not intend such a move at the moment.

However, the senators from the opposition benches walked out as protest, unsatisfied with the minister's reply, demanding that the K-P chief minister should be asked about his minister's statement.