The spokesman of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has said peace talks cannot be successful until army troops were the withdrawn from Tribal Areas and Taliban prisoners were released.
In an interview to a group of journalists at a secret location in Waziristan, TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid also demanded an end to the drone strikes.
He disclosed that they were being funded by Afghan Taliban. Shahid said the Pakistani Taliban were providing financial help to the Afghan Taliban, but now the latter had become so strong that they no longer needed support from the former. “Now they extend assistance to others besides providing secure positions in Afghanistan,” he added.
Shahidullah Shahid told reporters that the Afghan Taliban had also provided shelter to Mullah Fazlullah in Kunar province.
Referring to Malala Yousafzai, he said she was not attacked for pursuing education but for going against the religion of Islam. “Had we got another chance, we would have attacked her again,” he added.