PESHAWAR: A member of the committee instituted by the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan for talks with the government has said that the TTP Shura has handed a list of people whom it wanted the government to release from its custody.

Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, Professor Mohammad Ibrahim Khan said the list included women, children and elderly people.

Prof Ibrahim and Maulana Yousaf Shah went to Miramshah recently for consultations with members of the TTP Shura.

Prof Ibrahim told newsmen the Shura demanded release of women, children and elderly prisoners. “It can help build confidence between the government and the Taliban,” he said.

The Inter-Services Public Relations, the mouthpiece of the military, has denied that women and children are in its custody.

Prof Ibrahim said the Taliban wanted to meet the government committee in an area of the Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan.

He said the TTP had no objection if the army took action against the Ahrarul Hind group which recently had claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks in Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta.

The group has distanced itself from TTP-government negotiations and condemned the process.

Prof Ibrahim said the Taliban had started an investigation against Ahrarul Hind.

He quoted TTP Shura members as saying that Ahrarul Hind “might be a group of anti-state elements who don’t want peace”.

About opening a Taliban office he said it was too early to do that.

Answering a question, he said the Taliban had confirmed that security forces did not attack the TTP in recent operations.

Prof Ibrahim said that a direct meeting between the government and TTP would be arranged soon.

APP adds: He claimed that the TTP had disowned the recent terrorist acts, saying that they had no knowledge about Ahrarul Hind.

He said the Taliban committee had forwarded the TTP’s recommendations to the government and expressed the hope that the nation would soon get peace.

He said the talks could become fruitful if they were held in North Waziristan.