Govt committee urges Taliban to halt attacks
Actions against peace would be detrimental to peace talks, say govt, Taliban peace committees.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News/Agencies) - Government and Taliban peace committees expressed concern over terror activities, saying attacks like Karachi incident have negative impact on peace talks.
According to a joint statement, issued by the committees after their meeting here on Friday, actions against peace would be detrimental to peace talks.
The government committee informed the Taliban committee that any further attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) would not be tolerated. The government committee stated that if attacks continued it would become difficult to continue the dialogue process.
The two sides agreed that government as well as Taliban should cease fire to pave way for the successful peace talks.
The statement said that such acts of violence would hamper peace efforts and that any progress could be made only after creating a favorable condition for talks.
Maulana Samiul Haq who is a member of the committee nominated by the Taliban said they did not allow a deadlock in talks and expressed hope that a ceasefire would be announced in 48 hours.
Earlier, accepting the responsibility of blast on police bus in Karachi, Banned TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said that this attack was in retaliation of killing of their accomplices who were killed in illegitimate police encounters in Karachi, Sawabi and Peshawar in past few days.
Shahidullah claimed that 20 accomplices have been killed in police encounters in one month adding that TTP will continue to retaliate in ‘defense’ after any attack on Taliban until a formal ceasefire is announced.
Taliban spokesman also said that it is essential for government to stop such activities for the success of negotiation process hoping that the measures to stop attacks on Taliban will be taken immediately.
Shahidullah Shahid claimed that the interview given to foreign publication was published out of context.
He further said that he never used the word ‘caliph’ for Mullah Fazlullah and that there’s no mention of continuation of attacks in the interview.
On Thursday, a powerful car bomb attack on a police bus Karachi killed at least 13 policemen and wounded 57 others, Dunya News reported.
The attack came as Pakistan has been locked into negotiations with the Taliban aimed at ending a seven-year insurgency, with the level of violence in the country showing no signs of abating since talks began at the end of last month.
Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan on Friday said that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) should refrain from attacks on innocent people while peace talks are in progress.
“Pakistanis are their (TTP’s) countrymen, their brothers and sisters,” he told the media in Lahore, adding that even though the peace negotiation committees have not agreed to a ceasefire yet, the TTP should refrain from attacking their own countrymen.
