Summary The government negotiators were likely to meet the shura of the TTP today in FR Bannu.
BANNU (Dunya News) – The first direct meeting between the government committee and political shura of banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has been cancelled due to bad weather.
The meeting was likely to be held today (Tuesday) at an undisclosed location in FR Bannu.
Talking to Dunya News in Peshawar, member of Taliban committee Professor Ibrahim urged both sides to release hostages and prisoners before negotiations with the Taliban.
Prof Ibrahim said that the talks between the government committee and Taliban Shura have been postponed due to bad weather. The meeting will take place sometime soon, he said.
Professor Rof Ibrahim said that the government committee and Taliban Shura have finalised arrangements regarding the meeting.
We will represent our standpoint during the meeting we are acting as a bridge between the Taliban and government, he added
Prof Ibrahim also stated that he wants that prisoners from both sides should be released as this provision before the talks would be beneficial for both parties.
I don’t know anything about the meeting between the Interior Minister and DGISR and the decisions they have taken he added.
The members of Taliban shura who would participate in the talks include Azam Tariq, Amir Muawia, Ahsanullah Ahsan and Zahinullah.
It is worth mentioning here that Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan chaired a meeting of government’s negotiation committee in Islamabad on Monday.
The agenda of the proposed direct talks with the leadership of banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was discussed during the meeting.
Director General Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) Lt. General Zaheerul Islam also attended the meeting.
The meeting also discussed matter of giving mandate of immediate decisions to the government negotiation committee. The members of the committee proposed to complete the process of negotiation within as earlier as possible.
The government and Taliban coordinating committees had also met in Punjab House Islamabad on last Saturday in a session chaired by Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
Participants included Rustam Shah Mohmand, Arbab Arif, Habibullah Khattak and Fawad Hussain from government’s side, and Maulana Samiul Haq, Maulana Yousaf and Professor Ibrahim from Taliban’s coordinating committee.
Pakistan is facing almost a decade old insurgency at the hands of Taliban factions grouped under umbrella of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
The new governing parties including Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) had campaigned in elections in favour of resolving the years old conflict through dialogue.
The ruling party secured a vote of confidence in favour of dialogue through a session of All Parties Conference (APC) and to act on the recommendation upon willingness from Taliban, committees to represent both government and Taliban were formed and the process continued.
However, all negotiations stalled as a number of civilians and military personnel were brutalized whose responsibility was claimed by Taliban.
Following a number of air strikes by Pakistan military, Taliban agreed to a month-long ceasefire which was later reciprocated by the government.
Government also dissolved the existing committees emphasizing the need of moving forward the negotiations to next phase by restructuring the existing government committee to hold ‘direct talks’.
