Summary The meeting has been postponed due to official engagements of Interior Minister Ch. Nisar Ali Khan.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The meeting of government and Taliban committee has been postponed till Saturday.
Talking to Dunya News, coordinator of Taliban committee Maulana Yusuf Shah said that the meeting of the negotiators of both committees scheduled to be held today has been postponed due to the official engagements of Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. He said that the meeting the committees would be held at Punjab House on Saturday evening.
The meeting would review matters of prisoners release, ceasefire extension and time and venue to hold next phase of talks with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) shura.
Earlier, it was announced that the government and the Taliban negotiating committees will meet today (Friday) to discuss issues pertaining to ceasefire and release of prisoners.
Memember of Taliban committee Professor Ibrahim said a session is going to be held in Islamabad over the extension in ceasefire and the release of prisoners.
The Taliban committee will contact the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) political shura for a meeting after today’s session while TTP will convey the venue for meeting.
On the other hand, Maulana Yousaf Shah said he wasn’t aware of any release of non-combatant prisoners, adding that the government has been given the list of Taliban.
Furthermore, tomorrow’s session between the Taliban and government committees has been postponed due to the personal engagement of Maulana Samiul Haq.
Meanwhile, addressing a peace conference organized by Jamaat Islami in Peshawar on Thursday, Taliban committee patron Maulana Samiul Haq sad that negotiation is the only option to achieve peace, reiterating that military operation is the sole reason behind all problems. H said that he persuaded Taliban to agree to ceasefire extension.
Jamaat Islami’s newly elected chief Sirajul Haq said that they can pave way to hold negotiations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province if federal government desires.
Other speakers also reiterated that military operation is the core of all problems, adding that the next phase of negotiations should take place in Islamabad.
Insurgency, dialogue or operation:
Pakistan is facing almost a decade old insurgency at the hands of Taliban factions grouped under umbrella of Tehrik-e-Taliban.
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’.
