Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain on Tuesday said only the federal government has the powers to start dialogue with the Taliban.
“Unless owning or endorsement of [the] federal government individuals or single political force negotiation with Taliban militants could be meaningless,” Mian Iftikhar said while talking to reporters.
He said further it was high time for the federal government to take army and other security agencies into confidence and announce a plan for dialogues with Taliban militants.
The minister recalled that the KP government, after taking political forces, the federal government, the army and other security agencies had initiated dialogue with the Taliban in Swat. The world witnessed its outcome as almost all political forces had backed military offensive when the Taliban violated agreement. The KP information minister said that it was the Awami National Party which first convened the All Parties Conference (APC), unanimously demanding dialogue with the Taliban. The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl held another APC in continuation. Now the federal government should come forward to get benefits of the situation, he emphasised.
To a question, Mian Iftikhar said that negotiations could yield outcome when they were either owned or endorsed by the key stakeholders. The Taliban, the army, the government, tribal elders and KP were stakeholders therefore they should be taken into confidence. He said that tribesmen had suffered a lot and they should be represented through tribal elders in the negotiation process.
“No one will be allowed to use negotiation process for other gains,” he said when asked about impression regarding release of notorious militants.
He said, “We are striving for peace as we suffered a lot due to violence and terrorism.” On such grounds, he said, the ANP was determined to go ahead with its objectives which were only possible through dialogue. He said peace could be restored with completion of the negotiation process therefore; all of them needed to support the early negotiations between the government and militants.
