Summary “Clearly, I don’t represent Taliban,” Imran Khan said.
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has predicted that government s peace talks with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) will probably fail and an ensuing military operation would lead to more terrorism, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
“The most likely result is that the negotiations will start, there will be about three or four big explosions and terrorist attacks and the negotiations will be called off,” Iman Khan said, adding that “There will be people baying for blood and the operation will start.”
Giving his views on US drone attakc, the PTI chairman stated that the talks will be meaningful if the US announces an end to drone strikes.
“If the U.S. stops drone attacks, announces stopping the drone attacks during the talks, it would be a big plus point,” said Khan.
Negotiators representing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) called for a cease-fire yesterday (Thursday) after starting formal talks for the first time to end violence.
Government negotiators said talks will only focus on militancy-hit areas as Taliban representatives demanded meetings with PM Nawaz and the army chief to discuss the peace process, according to a joint statement issued by both committees yesterday.
Nawaz Sharif won an election last year after pledging negotiations with the TTP. Shortly after Sharif received the backing of all political parties in September to begin negotiations, Taliban fighters assassinated a major-general in the Pakistani army and killed 81 Christians in a suicide bomb attack at a Peshawar church.
Imran Khan criticized Sharif for waiting too long after the May election to start talks with the TTP. Sharif’s negotiation team, which includes two journalists, also reflected his lack of seriousness, Khan said.
“If I was him, I would lead it myself,” Khan said of Sharif. “It’s too important an issue for Pakistan.”
Khan said the TTP had chosen him as a negotiator because they trust him to withstand U.S. pressures.
“Clearly, I don’t represent Taliban,” Khan said, adding that he disagreed with the TTP’s interpretation of Islamic Sharia law. The group will have to accept that the way to bring change in Pakistan is through elections and the nation’s constitutional process, he said, adding: “You can’t impose it through the barrel of a gun.”
Khan said the TTP’s statements revealed that the U.S. presence in the region was fueling the militants.
