ISLAMABAD: Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Sunday said that the government had held consultations with the Army over the issue of freeing Taliban prisoners, DawnNews reported

Moreover, he said that the government wanted the immediate release of non-combatants held captive by the Taliban and added that the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had not demanded the release of militant's and neither would they be freed.

He said that the release of combatant prisoners would take place at a later stage, adding that the holding of talks with the Taliban, which had entered its third stage, was a difficult task.

The federal interior minister added that it was being said that the government and the Army were not on the same page with regard to the release of prisoners.

Nisar negated that perception saying that the government released the Taliban's non-combatant prisoners only after holding consultations with the Army.

The interior minister said that there was no deadlock between the Taliban and the government and it had been decided earlier only that the next round of talks would take place after today.

He said that the war could not be fought and won by the security forces alone adding that the whole nation would have to unite to win the fight against terrorism.

Nisar also said that he felt the probe into the Islamabad vegetable market blast was satisfactory.

He stated the incident was an act of cowardice and the scope of the investigations had been extended and police would hopefully arrest the culprits soon.

Nisar further said that the terrorists wanted to propagate the perception of insecurity and the media should not give time to those engaged in point scoring.

He further said that people who had ruined the security situation of the country were criticising the government and statements were being issued by people under whose rule the situation had reached its current state.

The interior minister added that the site of incident was spread across 400 kanals and was situated adjacent to a slum area.

Nisar said that more than 200,000 unregistered persons were living in Islamabad and questioned as to who had allowed the people to settle in the first place adding that registration of those settled in the slums around Islamabad was not the solution.

He reiterated the stance that outlawed Baloch militant organisations were not involved in the blast and the tracks of those responsible for the incident lead elsewhere.

The interior minister claimed with surety that the bomb was placed inside a crate of guavas which were brought to the federal capital from South Punjab via a bus.

Significant progress took place in the blast probe during the past 72 hours and the driver and other labourers involved in transporting and offloading the crates were also being investigated, Nisar said.

He further said that he was personally supervising the investigation into the incident, which in his view was an extremely sensitive matter, and further claimed to receive briefing from police officials at least three times daily.