Better if Taliban also form dialogue committee: Irfan Siddiqui
Chapter of the past will be closed and there will be no 'ifs and buts,' he said.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News): Irfan Siddiqui, member of four-member committee formed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to negotiate with Taliban, said that Taliban have accepted government’s committee and it would be better if Taliban also reciprocated by forming a similar committee.
Siddiqui also said that the first mandate of the committee is to formally initiate contact with Taliban. Contact information of committee members will be published in newspaper advertisements in this regard in a few days.
Irfan Siddiqui said that doors of the past have to be closed and that the committee doesn’t want to get into ‘ifs and buts’. He further said that Taliban has to give verbal or practical assurance that no unpleasant incident will take place during the negotiations process.
Answering a question pertaining to the timeframe of the dialogue process, Irfan Siddiqui said that this matter won’t stretch to months or years as the purpose of the committee is to control the fire as soon as possible. There would be complications if representatives of political parties were included in the committee, he added.
Earlier, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attended National Assembly’s session today and said that the government wants to give peace another chance and that peace negotiations with Taliban will be reinitiated. Taliban had welcomed the offer and expressed confidence over the four-member committee. Opposition leader Khursheed Shah and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan also assured support.
