While the TTP is asking for the release of its non-combatants, the government has also called for the release of all those abducted by the Taliban. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
ISLAMABAD: The government has started gathering information about the 300 non-combatants — women, children and elderly to be precise — who the Taliban claim are in the custody of the security forces.
The development came a day after Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) intermediary Prof Mohammad Ibrahim said that he has handed a list of 300 Taliban non-combatants to Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
“We are gathering information from concerned departments,” Information Minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid told journalists at a ceremony in Islamabad. “Once information-gathering is completed, we will inform the TTP and also share the information with the media,” he added.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and security agencies have repeatedly denied any non-combatants – women and children – linked with the TTP are in government custody.
While the TTP is asking for the release of its non-combatants, the government has also called for the release of all those abducted by the Taliban. “It is also government’s responsibility to get its
citizens released from the tribal areas,” Senator Rashid said.
The sons of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and slain Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer are the high-profile ones among those believed to be in Taliban custody in the tribal areas.
Since all political parties of the country supported the peace initiative, the government is pursuing it with sincerity, he said. “It’s not a Punjab-specific issue rather it’s a national issue and the government is treating it as such.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 19th, 2014.
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