Govt to propose release of sons of Gilani, Taseer to TTP shura

Mohmand says meeting delayed due to bad weather; Prof Ibrahim says date for meeting to be decided today

PESHAWAR: Government negotiators will propose the release of the sons of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and late Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) political Shura (advisory council) during their first face-to-face meeting, Express News reported on Monday.

Government negotiator Rustam Shah Mohmand said that the meeting with the TTP Shura would have taken place on March 25 if the weather conditions were better, adding that the government’s demands were ready to be presented directly to the TTP.

TTP negotiator Professor Ibrahim said that the day of the meeting will be decided by this evening.

On March 22, government negotiators and TTP intermediaries had claimed to have broken the deadlock over the venue of the proposed meeting with members of the TTP Shura. The move will clear the way for "phase-II" of the government peace initiative which has been described in many quarters as ‘decisive’.

Shah said today that the release of vice-chancellor of the Islamia College University (ICU) Ajmal Khan will also be proposed to the TTP Shura.

He further stated that the one of the other demands was to establish the government's writ in the tribal areas and to have peace in the region.

Kidnappings

On May 9 last year, armed assailants had kidnapped Ali Haider Gilani, son of the former premier. The incident had taken place at a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) corner meeting in Farrukhabad, near Matital Road in Multan.

Shahbaz Taseer, eldest son of the late Governor Punjab, was abducted from the Gulberg area of Lahore on August 26, 2011. Capital City Police Officer Lahore had said that his car was intercepted by a black SUV and motorbike around 600 yards from the office and up to three men had dragged Taseer out of the car and taken him away.

On September 7, 2010, vice-chancellor of the ICU Ajmal Khan was kidnapped from Peshawar while he was on his way to his office. Ajmal Khan is one of the senior most academicians of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and had been the principal of the historic Islamia College, provost and registrar of the University of Peshawar and VC of Gomal University Dera Ismail Khan.