The government negotiators on Friday told the Taliban representatives that their demands would only be considered if they announce a ceasefire.
The meeting between the government and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) interlocutors took place at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House. Samiul Haq and Yousuf Shah represented the Taliban without former Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz, who sources said had not been invited to the meeting.
The meeting was immediately held following a suicide attack on a senior Rangers officer in Karachi in which luckily no one was killed except the bomber.
The TTP had earlier claimed responsibility for Thursday’s bomb attack on a police van in Karachi, which left 13 police commandos dead and scores injured. TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid had vowed that they would continue to carry out attacks until the government announced a ceasefire.
Shahid also made a telephone call to Samiul Haq during Friday’s meeting in which he was informed about the government’s demand. Shahid told him that he would convey the demand to the Taliban political shura and inform them about their decision in the next few days.
Following Thursday’s attack, lawmakers also voiced their concern over the dialogue process, saying that acts of terrorism and talks could not go side by side.
Sources privy to the dialogue process said that it was Irfan Siddiqui, the coordinator of the government’s committee, who told Haq and his associates that pressure was mounting on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and any future attack could cause an irreparable loss to the dialogue process.
“As the ongoing terrorist activities are building further pressure on the military and political leadership of the country, the government’s negotiators on Friday frankly conveyed concerns of Nawaz Sharif to their counterparts representing TTP, saying that any future attack may jeopardise the entire dialogue process,” sources said.
“The government committee informed the Taliban committee that any further TTP attacks would not be tolerated,” they added.
The government committee asked the TTP team to urge the Taliban to immediately halt attacks on civilians and security forces. They also urged the TTP to announce a ceasefire.
“The TTP negotiators agreed to the concerns expressed by the government negotiators but asserted that the same situation could arise on killing of TTP insurgents either in Karachi, FATA or in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” the sources said, adding that The TTP nominees presented figures pertaining to TTP members killed in Swabi, Peshawar and Karachi.
The committee also assured their government counterparts that the Taliban would be urged to stop the attacks. The Taliban committee said the government committee’s concerns would be conveyed to the TTP and they were hopeful of a positive response. Samiul Haq said they did not allow a deadlock in talks and hoped that a ceasefire would be announced in 48 hours.
Sami condemned the recent incidents of terrorism in Karachi and alleged that foreign elements and anti-state elements wanted to foil peace negotiations.
Sources added that initially the TTP team did not agree on issuing a joint statement, however, later they agreed only when the government committee agreed to include in the communiqué that use of (military) force against the TTP terrorists could also foil dialogue process.
“Since it was a win-win situation, both the sides agreed on the joint communiqué. Hence, the TTP committee achieved a significant goal by adding in the joint communiqué that use of force from either side may jeopardize the dialogue process,” the sources added.
Following the meeting, the committees formed by the government and Taliban also issued a joint statement. The joint statement emphasised that attacks from either side would be detrimental to peace talks.
