TTP should not act as a hurdle in permanent peace: Prof Ibrahim

The TTP negotiation committee will urge the Taliban to cooperate with the government.

PESHAWAR: “Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) should not act as a hurdle in permanent peace,” says TTP intermediary Professor Mohammad Ibrahim, Express News reported on Monday.

This morning while speaking to the media, Jamaat-i-Islami provincial chief and member of Taliban negotiation committee Professor Ibrahim appreciated government’s efforts towards peace.

The negotiation committee will urge the Taliban to cooperate with the government and not act as an obstacle to the objective of restoration of peace, he said.

It was reported that Baland Khel, Orakzai Agency, South Waziristan, Miranshah and Bannu Airport were potential venues for peace talks. However, Professor Ibrahim said a final decision regarding the venue has not been made yet.

The government’s peace initiative appeared to be in jeopardy on May 2, when Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan — who has been tasked by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to coordinate the peace process — had warned that the dialogue process with the TTP could not proceed amid a ‘tug of war’.

Nisar had previously said, “There is no hurdle from our side. Neither is there any [hurdle] from the army.”

On April 23, government negotiators and Taliban intermediaries had agreed to form a subcommittee to look into reservations from both sides in an effort to keep the nascent peace dialogue process.

The government has already made it clear that it would not be possible to move ahead with talks in the absence of a ceasefire as TTP previously refused to extend their 40-day ceasefire.