The day after Pakistani Taliban rejected holding talks with authorities, the government has also rejected the reports in this regard as mere rumors.
Media reports on Saturday ran headlines reporting the start of peace talks with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) while some said there had been initial contacts with the militants. But a TTP spokesperson denied the reports the same day.
On Sunday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan also declined holding talks with the insurgent group. “These reports are baseless as the decision to talks with the TTP would be taken during the All Parties’ Conference (APC) after taking political parties into confidence,” he said.
Nisar said that dialogue with the militants was a sensitive matter and spreading of misinformation prematurely can be detrimental to the effort. He said the government’s security policy had been finalised and political parties were united against terrorism. The interior minister said the previous govt did not take the Taliban offer for talks seriously but the current govt should consider making it an important component of the country’s anti-terrorism strategy. JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman has repeatedly offered to assist the govt with Taliban talks saying that he wanted to help because no progress had been made in resolving this vital issue. The TTP in their offer for talks had recommended Fazl and Jamaat-Islami chief Munawar Hasan as intermediaries.
To bomb or not to bomb: The debate on Syria heats up
As reported on international media, U.N. evidence that could show whether chemical weapons were used in Syria will head to a lab Monday, but the answer may just be a formality.
The United States is scrambling to decide whether it should launch airstrikes against the Syrian regime after the Obama administration said there’s no doubt Syria’s government killed hundreds of civilians in a chemical weapon attack.
The debate heated up Sunday, when U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said independent tests revealed “signatures of sarin gas” in blood and hair samples collected from the site of the alleged attack. The administration wants Congress to sign off on limited strikes in Syria — but some lawmakers bristle of getting ensnared in another overseas conflict.
A lot is riding on what the United States decides to do. Britain has already voted against taking any military action on Syria, and France said it won’t act without the United States as a partner.
While British and U.S. intelligence reports say the August 21 attack involved chemical weapons, U.N. officials have stressed the importance of waiting for an official report from the U.N. chemical weapons inspectors.
The inspectors left Syria on Saturday, carrying evidence that will determine whether chemical weapons were used in the attack last month. But the U.N. won’t give a date for when the testing would be completed.
“It’s being done as fast as it is possible to do within the scientific constraints,” said Martin Nesirky, spokesman for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
On Monday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime asked Ban to help prevent any violence against the country.
“The Syrian government calls on the U.N. Secretary General to shoulder his responsibilities for preventing any aggression on Syria,” the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported.
For now, Syria seems safe from U.N.-sanctioned hits. It’s unlikely the U.N. Security Council will authorize military strikes against Syria because two of its members — Russia and China — have blocked all efforts to take action against their ally.
That means if the United States wants to attack Syria, it may have to do it alone.
Kerry: We must act
The independent test results from Syria have firmed up suspicions that al-Assad’s regime killed civilians in opposition strongholds, the Obama administration said.
“We know that the regime ordered this attack, we know they prepared for it,” Kerry said. “We know where the rockets came from. We know where they landed. We know the damage that was done afterwards. We’ve seen the horrific scenes all over the social media, and we have evidence of it in other ways, and we know that the regime tried to cover up afterwards, so the case is really an overwhelming case.”
With “each day that goes by, this case is even stronger,” he said, arguing that the United States must act.
“If you don’t do it, you send a message of impunity,” Kerry said. He said that could have a ripple effect on Iran, North Korea and Hezbollah.
But the administration is facing resistance from lawmakers even before Congress officially comes back to Washington September 9.
About 100 members of the House and Senate came back early from recess for the briefing with top administration officials, according to members who attended the meeting. Many of those lawmakers – Republicans and Democrats alike – left the session skeptical and with major concerns about the language of the president’s proposal.
While there have been no plans to put American boots on the ground, Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen said he wants to see an amendment that would prohibit American troops from being on the ground and a separate change that would put a firm expiration date on American action in the country a firm expiration date.
The Syrian government has denied that it used chemical weapons in the August 21 attack, saying that jihadists fighting with the rebels used them in an effort to turn global sentiments against the regime.
Maria Saadeh, a member of Syria’s parliament, told CNN on Sunday that she sees no justification for a U.S. strike on Syria.
“There is no legitimacy to make this attack,” she said, accusing rebel groups of using chemical weapons and committing other crimes against humanity.
Reports: Sarin’s been used in Syria before
World leaders have said previously that sarin has been used in the Syrian civil war.
In April, the United States said it had evidence sarin was used in Syria on a small scale.
In May, a U.N. official said there were strong suspicions that rebel forces used the deadly nerve agent.
In June, France said sarin had been used several times in the war, including at least once by the Syrian regime.
There is really no question that Assad ordered the gas attacks on his own people…all the evidence points to them and they alone have the Sarin gas bombs used in the attacks…the weapons of mass destruction that the USA could not find in Iraq were shipped to Syria and his friend Assad is now using them against women and children…what a despicable regime…
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