KP govt cautiously welcomes talks offer: Anti-terror stance to remain unchanged
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain. — File photo
PESHAWAR, Dec 27: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Thursday welcomed the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan’s offer for conditional talks but said it would not deter it from its principled stand against terrorism and violence.
“We welcome the TTP’s offer of truce and consider this a positive development,” Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told Dawn.
“Let the TTP come to the table and present its conditions. It is for the state to decide what conditions are acceptable and what are unacceptable,” he said.
His comments were sought after Punjabi Taliban, the TTP’s Punjab faction, had offered a conditional ceasefire in a letter. The letter was written by Punjabi Taliban leader Asmatullah Muawiya outlining his conditions for talks. TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ahsan endorsed the offer.
The conditions include Pakistan pulling out of the Afghan war and changing its constitution and foreign policy to bring it what Taliban claimed in conformity with Quran and Sunnah. The militants also demanded Pakistan to refocus on a war of “revenge” against India.
The TTP dubbed the ANP and MQM agents of the US and said that Taliban would target both the parties. The militants said they would not target the JUI-F, Jamaat-i-Islami, the PML-N and Imran Khan’s Tehrik-i-Insaaf because they had no problem with these parties.
Mian Iftikhar said his party had been attacked because of its principled stand.
“Our role is very clear. We have a principled stand against terrorism and violence. Those who are willing to renounce violence are welcome to sit down with us and negotiate,” the minister said.
“Ours is the only party which has stood up against terrorism for the love of the country and humanity,” he said.
“We are not like those who have chosen to remain silent for the fear of retribution. We have rendered a lot of sacrifices because of our stand for the future and survival of the country,” Mian iftikhar declared.
“We are not going to change our policy on the dictates of others and we will not compromise,” he said.
He said the party leadership would soon meet President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and leaders of other political parties to firm up a joint response to the Taliban offer. “There are two options. If the consensus is to hold talks with Taliban then we have to decide conditions under which the talks would be held and the other option is to take full, across-the-board action against militants.”
He said the purpose of holding talks with political parties was not to forge an electoral alliance.
“This is not about elections or electoral alliance. This is about the country’s survival and its future,” he said.
The minister said that the political leadership could give political ownership to any military operation in North Waziristan.
“We are a political force which can give political ownership to any action taken by consensus,” he said, adding that the ANP was being targeted because it supported and owned the military operation in Swat and Malakand.
“We can give political ownership but it is the responsibility of the state to take a decisive action against militants.”
Agencies add: Interior Minister Rehman Malik rejected any offer of a ceasefire unless it came from the Pakistan Taliban leader.
“I reject all these offers, and any future claims, of Ihsanullah Ihsan, unless and until Hakeemullah Mehsud owns them himself,” Mr Malik said.
I totally agree with Mian Ifhtikhar sahib. After the martyrdom of Bashir Bilour Sahib ( May Allah bless him with Jannat Ul Firdous Ameen.) I don’t care whether we all get killed in this war. We have to fight these terrorists. This is not what Islam teaches us.
Can someone tell what is wrong in the demands made by taliban. A wise person does not look at the person who is saying it rather look at what he is saying, even if an enemy is saying right thing, one should not ignore it just because it is coming from enemy.
Durand line is an illegal line and the line of evil ,the wretched Durand treaty of 1893 which divided Afghans for centuries was an illegal line, this imaginary line is an art of legal deception and most be abolished before peace take place. All Afghans had all along fought against Angrees and Soviet empires And all Afghans had all along demanded the return of its territory situtated on the Pak side of the evil line We are tired of being a fodder of evildoers and hypocrites nation.
Smoke em out…how can you even think of negotiating with the barbarians who have killed many thousands. Elimination is necessary because even if there is ceasefire their ideology will spread further which will further complicate the situation. We have such a large army which takes a huge chunk out of the budget. This is exactly the time to use our full might. Otherwise whats the use of keeping the army,
Try reading history of Guerilla wars and you would understand why this (smoke em out) is not possible. Rhetoric cannot and will not bring peace.
So you want to surrender to them?
It’s shamefull even to consider a preconditioned offer by TTP, government of Pakistan should be the one dictating the preconditions for the peace talks not TTP.
I fully agree with your views, It will be a disaster to accept the conditions of these terrorists as this will further encourage terrorism in the country. The killers of our innocent people, our police, soldiers and other security forces should be made accountable and punsihed. The State should should set the conditions for dialogue once these terrorists rennoune the acts of violance against our people.