APC supports peace talks with Pakistani Taliban

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Since the 1980s “jihad” to expel Soviet troops from Afghanistan, Muslim fighters from all over the world have lived and trained on the Afghan-Pakistan border, moulded into Al-Qaeda and a host of spin-off militant networks. - File photo
- File photo

ISLAMABAD:All the participating parties of the All Parties Conference (APC)  called by Awami national Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali Khan agreed on Thursday to negotiate with those Taliban militants who were ready to accept the law and Constitution of Pakistan, DawnNewsreported.

At least 27 of Pakistan's political parties and lawyer organisation were participating in the conference held in Islamabad.

The Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz, (PML-N), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), ANP and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) were among the parties attending the conference.

The Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf (PTI) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) were not represented at the conference underway in Islamabad.

The deliberations are likely to be dominated by the offer of talks made recently by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Leader of Opposition in National Assembly and senior PML-N lawmaker Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan giving his address said that negotiations should take place with those who accept the Law, Constitution and national writ of Pakistan.

ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan gave the key-note address and said the objective of the conference was to gather the nation against terrorism on one platform.

“The menace of terrorism is not the problem of present government only, rather it will also be a problem for the coming governments,” he observed.

The ANP chief further said any decision taken in the meeting would be announced at the conclusion of the conference.

The APC would draft recommendations to tackle the problem of terrorism in the country which would be forwarded to the President Asif Ali Zardari and Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Pervez Kayani.

Speaking to Dawn on Wednesday, ANP’s parliamentary leader in the Senate Haji Mohammad Adeel had said the TTP’s talks offer would also be discussed at the meeting.

Adeel had stated that the main objective of the conference was to devise a national policy that could bring about peace in the country.

The idea of the APC was initiated after the assassination of senior ANP leader and provincial minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour in December 2012, who was killed in a suicide attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.

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