For peace, Pakistan has to embrace Islamic law, say Taliban negotiators
6 Feb 2014 6:27 AM IST
The tough conditions appear to deal a blow to hopes that talks with the Pakistani government could end the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) insurgency that has rocked the nuclear-armed country since 2007.
Initial peace talks failed to get under way Tuesday when the government delegation refused to meet the militants’ negotiators, citing confusion about the make-up of their team.
The two sides are expected to try to meet again on Thursday or Friday, though no definite arrangements have yet been made.
Washington and Kabul have been deadlocked over a pact known as the Bilateral Security Agreement, which would allow some US troops to stay on in Afghanistan beyond 2014. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is refusing to sign it at present.
Its supporters say the pact is crucial to Afghanistan’s stability after the bulk of NATO forces pull out.
But Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, the head of the TTP’s three-man talks team, said there could be ‘no peace’ in the region while there were still US troops across the border.
His comments were echoed by his fellow TTP negotiator Maulana Abdul Aziz, who also said the TTP’s long-held commitment to impose sharia law across Pakistan was not open to debate. ‘Without sharia law, the Taliban won’t accept (the talks) even one percent,’ he said. ‘If some factions accept it, then the others won’t accept it.’
The government has insisted that Pakistan’s constitution must remain paramount. Given the gulf between the two sides, there has been scepticism about what the talks could achieve.
Local peace deals with the militants in the past have quickly fallen apart. ‘Their real agenda is sharia,’ Aziz said, suggesting that all Pakistan’s secular courts based on the common law system be abolished.
Initial peace talks failed to get under way Tuesday when the government delegation refused to meet the militants’ negotiators, citing confusion about the make-up of their team.
The two sides are expected to try to meet again on Thursday or Friday, though no definite arrangements have yet been made.
Washington and Kabul have been deadlocked over a pact known as the Bilateral Security Agreement, which would allow some US troops to stay on in Afghanistan beyond 2014. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is refusing to sign it at present.
Its supporters say the pact is crucial to Afghanistan’s stability after the bulk of NATO forces pull out.
But Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, the head of the TTP’s three-man talks team, said there could be ‘no peace’ in the region while there were still US troops across the border.
His comments were echoed by his fellow TTP negotiator Maulana Abdul Aziz, who also said the TTP’s long-held commitment to impose sharia law across Pakistan was not open to debate. ‘Without sharia law, the Taliban won’t accept (the talks) even one percent,’ he said. ‘If some factions accept it, then the others won’t accept it.’
The government has insisted that Pakistan’s constitution must remain paramount. Given the gulf between the two sides, there has been scepticism about what the talks could achieve.
Local peace deals with the militants in the past have quickly fallen apart. ‘Their real agenda is sharia,’ Aziz said, suggesting that all Pakistan’s secular courts based on the common law system be abolished.
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