Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Munawar Hassan on Sunday called for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to seeking Afghan Taliban’s help in the negotiation process to end the deadlock.
Addressing a meeting of party workers in Peshawar, the JI chief urged the PM to take initiative and called committees of the two sides to listen to their concerns and viewpoints.
Munawar Hassan said Pakistan has a bitter experience of army operations, saying that previous actions have turned many parts of the country into ‘Bangladesh’.
The JI leader’s views came hours after military fighter jets pounded suspected militant hideouts in Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency bordering Afghanistan, killing 20 terrorists in early morning strike.
Yesterday, nine militants were killed and several others injured in shelling by army gunship helicopters on militants’ hideouts in areas of Hangu district, three days after ‘punitive strikes’ left dozens of militants dead in North Waziristan and Khyber Agency.
Taliban’s chief negotiator and chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-S) Maulana Sami ul Haq has appealed to the government and banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to announce a ceasefire.
JI’s professor Ibrahim, who is also part of the Taliban negotiating team, calls for ceasefire and urged the government to refrain from any military option.
The Pakistani Taliban demand enforcement of shariah in the country as a condition of peace and ceasefire.