Govt committee to directly talk to TTP shura: Maulana Samiul Haq

Taliban want their nominated negotiation team to remain part of the dialogue process.

NORTH WAZIRISTAN: Noting progress in talks with the Taliban on Friday, Maulana Samiul Haq said that the next stage in talks, for the government peace talks committee to directly negotiate with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leadership, had been green-lighted.

Haq briefed the media in Akora Khattak after being briefed behind closed doors by Professor Ibrahim and Maulana Yousuf Shah (TTP nominated peace talks committee).

Prof Ibrahim and Maulana Shah had returned on Friday after having met the Majlis-e-Shura of the Taliban in Waziristan.

Haq said that the members had held detailed discussion with Taliban leadership and informed them of the newly formed government committee.

The Taliban emphasised that their nominated committee will remain part of the negotiation process, Haq conveyed.

Head of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema Islam (Sami group), Haq said that the next phase in talks would commence once a a venue and date were decided. The process is expected to move forward in the next day or two.

TTP negotiations committee returns

Earlier on Friday, the TTP committee returned to Akora Khattak, Express News reported.

Coordinator of TTP committee Maulana Yousaf Shah, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Professor Ibrahim and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) district chief Maulana Abdul Hai had traveled to North Waziristan via a special helicoper.

The meeting with the Taliban shura was positive, Professor Ibrahim said.

“We will have the government committee also meet the Taliban and we will accompany them to Waziristan,” he added.

Sources say that the members of the committee will also meet Maulana Samiul Haq in Darul uloom Haqqania.

Maulana Samiul Haq will preside over the closed-door meeting with members of the TTP committee where the committee will brief Maulana Samiul Haq on the progress made with the peace talks.

Drones hover above?

Maulana Yousuf Shah, part of the TTP's nominated negotiating committee, claimed that drones were hovering above the site of their meeting with the shura.

Speaking with reporters after returning from a meeting with the TTP shura in North Waziristan, Shah claimed that drones were hovering above. This could not be independently verified with weather reports for the area suggesting cloud cover.

The second phase of talks between the TTP negotiators and the Taliban political shura began today.

The TTP intermediaries had left Islamabad and reached North Waziristan to meet the shura on March 14.

The purpose of the visit was to decide the timing and venue for face-to-face talks between the new government negotiators and the TTP.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had said that formal talks with the TTP would begin the moment the timing and venue for the dialogue was decided.

New govt committee

The government had formed a new committee on March 12 to hold direct talks with the TTP as part of efforts to end years of violence that has plagued the country.

Ports and Shipping Secretary Habibullah Khattak would head the four-member committee which will include Fata Additional Secretary Arbab Arif, Additional Secretary to Prime Minister Office Fawad Hassan Fawad and former diplomat Rustam Shah Mohmand, who was in the previous negotiating team as well.