Summary The Taliban committee expresses the desire to hold meetings with President, PM, COAS and DG ISI.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The first meeting of negotiation committees of the government and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) concluded on Thursday.
The two sides agreed that dialogue would be applicable to troubled areas alone and not the entire country.
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, leader of Taliban’s negotiation committee Maulana Samiul Haq read out the joint statement.
He said that the meeting was held in a cordial environment and both the committees agreed that there should be no action or activities that could damage the peace negotiations.
Maulana said it has also been agreed that anti-peace and security activities should be stopped forthwith.
According to the press release, the points raised by the government committee say that the process of negotiation should be held within the framework of the Constitution.
The committee of the government has also stated that the dialogue would be applicable to troubled areas alone and not the entire country.
The government committee also sought clarification about wanted clarity in the mandate of Taliban committee and Taliban’s monitoring committee.
As per the joint statement, the Taliban committee also sought clarification about mandate of the government committee.
The Taliban committee also expressed the desire to have meetings with the President‚ the PM, the Army Chief and DG ISI.
Maulana Samiul Haq said that he would convey the demands of the government to Taliban and would inform the government about their response after which the second phase of the negotiations would start.
The four member government team included Irfan Siddiqui‚ Rustam Shah Mohmand‚ Rahimullah Yousafzai and Major (r) Muhammad Aamer.
The three member Taliban team consisted of Maulana Samiul Haq‚ Maulana Abdul Aziz and Prof. Ibrahim Khan.
Earlier, Earlier, Member of Taliban Committee Maulana Samiul Haq telephoned Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and discussed ways to bring peace to the country.
Talking to Maulana Samiul Haq‚ Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said the government has initiated dialogue process with all seriousness as it wants to normalize the situation.
He said the entire nation‚ including the government‚ is praying for the success of dialogues between the two committees.
Nisar Ali Khan said the government will extend full cooperation to its committee in talks with the Taliban team and reach a positive conclusion.
Maulana Samiul Haq appreciated the role of Interior Minister for promoting dialogue process and hoped it would yield positive results.
Both the leaders decided to remain in contact with each other to forward the peace process.
