- Says US withdrawal from Afghanistan a minor factor in this war
- Says TTP’s main objective is to implement Shariah
- Says Taliban in no hurry to reach an accord with the govt
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) sees no urgency to reach an agreement with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government, Maulana Abdul Aziz, one of the three negotiators representing the TTP, said Monday.
In an interview at his Islamabad seminary, where some 1,300 female students are studying, Aziz said, “You should know that at the moment they (TTP) have at least 400 to 500 female suicide bombers in Waziristan and other tribal areas”.
Aziz said the TTP is most interested in implementing Sharia law in Pakistan. The US military’s presence in Afghanistan is “a very minor factor” in the fight, he said.
“They are fighting for the implementation of Sharia,” Aziz mentioned, “the government should realise the situation and their demands”.
It’s the law of nature that people who don’t get their rights, pick up arms, he said.
Aziz had last week temporarily withdrawn himself from the talks because the government had insisted the negotiations be held under the Constitution and avoid the umbrella of Islamic Shariah law. However, he later said he would remain on the TTP’s committee.
“The Taliban are in no hurry,” Aziz said, when asked whether the group wanted a deal soon to avoid a military strike. “They (TTP) say they are not worried about it. They have been in a state of war for the past 10 years”.
Aziz justified the use of suicide bombers, saying that they believed in the cause and were willing to sacrifice themselves for it.
“If the military has weapons and air power, they have suicide bombers,” Aziz said of the TTP. “You cannot match them. Suicide bombers even destroyed the power of America in Afghanistan,” he asserted.
The number of female suicide bombers mentioned by Aziz “is a very exaggerated figure,” said Amir Rana, director of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies. “However, there is no doubt the TTP is way ahead in the propaganda war and they have given a tough time to the State,” he said.