ISLAMABAD: The Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Thursday that carrying on with peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban amid terrorist attacks throughout the country would be injustice to the victims of such attacks.
Speaking at a press conference, he said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the military leadership do not intend to carry on with dialogue amid terrorist attacks.
“He (PM Sharif) wanted to eradicate terrorism through dialogue with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Sincere efforts were put in that regard by forming a negotiating committee,” said the minister.
“However, citing recent terrorist attacks, the government has decided to counter force with force upon consultation with the country’s military leadership,” he announced.
The statement came after at least 35 militants were killed earlier today as fighter jets targeted suspected insurgent hideouts in three different tehsils of the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
Chaudhry Nisar reiterated that peace talks and terrorist attacks cannot go side by side.
Premier Sharif has favored peace talks over military action to end the bloodshed in the country. Those efforts made limited progress this month when a government-appointed committee met with representatives nominated by the militants.
But negotiations were troubled from the start as militant attacks continued. A deadly bombing claimed by the Pakistani Taliban last week killed 12 police officers in the port city of Karachi. A faction of the Taliban also claimed they killed 23 soldiers on Sunday in reprisal for the killing of some of their members.
After that, government negotiators told the prime minister they couldn’t continue the talks unless the militants renounced violence.
TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said Wednesday they would agree to a ceasefire only if government negotiators could assure them there would be no more killings of their members.
During the press conference today, Chaudhry Nisar said that the deadlock in peace talks persists, however, the government’s peace initiative will continue with the militant groups which believe in the dialogue process.
The minister said that the government did not carry out any military action against the extremists since inception of the peace process in September. “What else could the government have done to show its sincerity of observing a ceasefire,” he questioned.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader, in an obvious reference to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), said those who are demanding a military offensive should have conducted the operation during their five years in power. DAWN
