Sharia or bust!

• TTP negotiators suffer blow as Lal Masjid’s Abdul Aziz pulls out of talks
• Cleric says Constitution should be replaced by Quran and Sunnah 

The Taliban’s nominated dialogue committee on Friday suffered a blow after radical Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz pulled himself out of dialogue process.

Now the Taliban’s team is left with only two members. There has been widespread scepticism about the chances of the peace initiative achieving a lasting solution to the TTP’s bloody seven-year insurgency.

It was Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan who distanced himself from the Taliban’s team soon after the TTP announced named of their committee. A day later, JUI-F chief Fazlur Rahman announced that Kifayatullah, another member of the committee, would not partake in talks as his party had not been consulted before including his name.

Aziz announced his decision at a press conference. He said he would not be part of the talks until the government negotiated in the parameters of the Quran and Sunnah rather than the Constitution.

His decision comes a day after teams representing the government and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) held a preliminary round of talks in Islamabad.

Aziz said the constitution should be replaced by the Quran and the hadith.

“That should be the law in Pakistan and until the committee brings this point on the agenda I won’t be part of negotiations,” he told reporters at the press conference with his followers totting guns.

He said he would remain part of the TTP’s three-man delegation led by JUI-S chief Samiul Haq, but would not come to the negotiating table.

“I won’t participate in talks until they include a clause about the imposition of Islamic law,” he said.

On Thursday, the government and TTP negotiators, including Aziz, issued a joint statement agreeing to work within the framework of the constitution.

Aziz’s move threatened to further undermine the talks. The government side has already voiced doubts about the composition and authority of the TTP representatives.

The Taliban’s team is likely to visit North Waziristan in a few days as government-proposed peace talks move ahead.

According to TTP team coordinator Yusuf Shah, the three-member committee, comprising Samiul Haq, Abdul Aziz and Prof Muhammad Ibrahim, would meet another body of Taliban somewhere in North Waziristan in the next few days.

The team will hold its meeting with a nine-member ‘monitoring’ committee formed by the Taliban. It comprises of Qari Shakil Haqqani, Umar Khalid Khurasani, Qari Bashir, Azam Tariq, Shahidullah Shahid, Asmatullah Muavia and others.

Sources said the Taliban’s negotiation team is also reviewing Federal Information Minister Pervez Rashid’s offer for transportation through a helicopter.