Taliban talks: Govt mulls barring ministers from giving media statements
Khawaja Asif said the army will not hesitate in bombarding militants' hideouts in tribal areas.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The federal government is considering to bar all ministers from giving statements during the dialogue process with Taliban following the recent interview of Defense Minister Khawaja Asif to a foreign news agency.
According to sources, the recent statements of Khawaja Asif have complexed the issue, adding that the PM Nawaz still believes that a political solution can only resolve the sensitive issue.
Efforts are underway to make the dialogue process more effective, the sources added.
Earlier on Friday, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said that a military operation against banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in tribal areas may be launched in March.
In an interview to Reuters, Khawaja Asif said the army will not show reluctance in bombarding militants’ hideouts in tribal areas.
Pakistan could launch a full-scale military operation against Pakistani Taliban insurgents in tribal areas near the Afghan border as early as this month, the defence minister said, warning insurgents against violating a ceasefire.
Khawaja Asif told that the government would not hesitate to bomb militant hideouts or send forces into the tribal areas if the Pakistani Taliban did not abide by the ceasefire announced last weekend.
"It will not take months now. We ll have to march in the month of March," Asif said in the interview on Thursday, describing the government s response if insurgents persisted in their attacks despite the ceasefire.
"If there is a ceasefire, it has to be complete. Without that, we just can t afford to have talks with the Taliban."
Pakistan fears that the end of the U.S. combat mission in neighbouring Afghanistan this year could energise a resilient insurgency straddling their shared frontier.
"If in the post-withdrawal period, the Afghan Taliban become stronger and carve out an area of influence in the south and east of Afghanistan, which is next to our border - that s a scenario we should even avoid thinking of," Asif said
