Bad weather: TTP-govt peace meeting postponed again

Professor Ibrahim says intermediaries making efforts to convert ceasefire into permanent peace agreement.

PESHAWAR: The government negotiators and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Political Shura (advisory council) will not meet face-to-face today due to bad weather conditions, Express News reported on Tuesday.

TTP intermediary Professor Ibrahim confirmed that the meeting was postponed and the TTP Shura was informed about the delay.

He told Express News that the TTP intermediaries were making efforts to convert the month-long ceasefire into permanent peace agreement but if negotiations take a long time, then the first step would be to extend the ceasefire.

Officials had said on March 24 that the first face-to-face meeting between the committee and TTP members was expected to take place today at an undisclosed location.

The much-anticipated direct talks would be attended by all four members of the government’s reconfigured negotiating committee, TTP intermediaries and members of the TTP Shura.

During the face-to-face meeting, the government will also push the TTP to extend the one-month ceasefire announced by the group on March 1.

On March 24, the government had finalised its strategy at a meeting attended by the government negotiators, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam.

The participants had held consultations on the agenda for peace talks, an official statement issued by the interior ministry had said without giving details.