PESHAWAR
Terrorist outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Shahidullah Shahid on Friday said they were ready for talks despite the fact that the recent airstrikes in North Waziristan showed the government’s insincerity.
Speaking to reporters at an undisclosed location, he said the war has been started by the government and it should also take the lead on a ceasefire.
Flanked by TTP political shura member Azam Tariq, Shahid said they were aiming to resolve issues through talks whereas the government was more focused on establishing its writ.
He said the TTP was serious about the dialogue, adding that the TTP negotiators were more independent than those representing the government.
“We have been fighting in defence for ten years,” the spokesperson said, adding that the government should stop this root-out operation now.
Reiterating that Quran and Sunnah were a complete constitution, Shahid said the government wanted them to accept the constitution through dialogue. He said this constitution did not have a single Islamic clause in it.
He said that the Taliban still wished to engage in peace dialogue to solve the country’s problems. “We were ready to talk before and are ready now,” he said.
The statements come after the government decided to pull the plug on the peace talks as the prime minister and the army chief decided that “proceeding with the peace talks amid the bombings and slaughter of soldiers would be injustice to terror victims”.
Following a wave of terrorist attacks on security forces, it has been decided that talks will only be held when blood stops spilling, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar quoted the premier as saying.
At least 30 terrorists were killed and several others injured as military jets and gunship helicopters bombed their hideouts in North Waziristan and Khyber Agency, military sources said on Thursday.