Pakistan government, Taliban resume peace talks
7 March 2014 5:04 AM IST
The government opened negotiations with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) last month in a bid to end their bloody seven-year insurgency, but the process broke down more than two weeks ago after militants killed 23 kidnapped soldiers.
The Taliban announced a month-long ceasefire at the weekend and the two sides met in the country’s northwest on Wednesday.
The resumption came despite a major attack in Islamabad on Monday claimed by a splinter group that killed 11 people and a roadside bomb killing six paramilitary troops on Wednesday.
A joint statement read out after the meeting in Akora Khattak, 50 km east of Peshawar, the main city of northwest Pakistan, said the talks had entered a ‘crucial stage’.
Lead government negotiator Irfan Siddiqui told reporters they had made ‘satisfactory’ progress.
‘We are now launching the second phase of the dialogue after completion of the first one, which focused on mutual consultations,’ he said. ‘The second phase will be of decision-making and we have to make important and far-reaching decisions.’
More than 110 people have been killed in militant attacks since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced talks with the TTP in late January.
As a result some observers have questioned Sharif’s dialogue strategy, suggesting that the TTP is either insincere or simply unable to control the various militant groups carrying out attacks in Pakistan.
There have been rumours of splits within the militant movement over the talks, with some hardliners opposed to the process.
The TTP, an umbrella grouping of different militant factions, distanced itself from Monday’s attack, the deadliest in the Pakistani capital since a huge truck bomb hit the city’s Marriott Hotel in 2008.
A new group called Ahrar-ul-Hind admitted to that attack, while Wednesday’s roadside bomb was claimed by the Ansar-ul-Mujahideen militant group.
The Taliban announced a month-long ceasefire at the weekend and the two sides met in the country’s northwest on Wednesday.
The resumption came despite a major attack in Islamabad on Monday claimed by a splinter group that killed 11 people and a roadside bomb killing six paramilitary troops on Wednesday.
A joint statement read out after the meeting in Akora Khattak, 50 km east of Peshawar, the main city of northwest Pakistan, said the talks had entered a ‘crucial stage’.
Lead government negotiator Irfan Siddiqui told reporters they had made ‘satisfactory’ progress.
‘We are now launching the second phase of the dialogue after completion of the first one, which focused on mutual consultations,’ he said. ‘The second phase will be of decision-making and we have to make important and far-reaching decisions.’
More than 110 people have been killed in militant attacks since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced talks with the TTP in late January.
As a result some observers have questioned Sharif’s dialogue strategy, suggesting that the TTP is either insincere or simply unable to control the various militant groups carrying out attacks in Pakistan.
There have been rumours of splits within the militant movement over the talks, with some hardliners opposed to the process.
The TTP, an umbrella grouping of different militant factions, distanced itself from Monday’s attack, the deadliest in the Pakistani capital since a huge truck bomb hit the city’s Marriott Hotel in 2008.
A new group called Ahrar-ul-Hind admitted to that attack, while Wednesday’s roadside bomb was claimed by the Ansar-ul-Mujahideen militant group.
Next Story
