ISLAMABAD: The Wifaqul Madaris Al Arabia (WMA) has advised the government to take the US on board before opening talks with Taliban to prevent incidents like the killing of Hakeemullah Mehsud.
During a telephonic conversation with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, MWA General Secretary Qari Hanif Jalandhari said that confidence building measures should be taken to make the talks result-oriented.
The killing of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan chief Hakeemullah Mehsud in a recent US drone attack has adversely affected the government’s efforts to initiate talks and recurrence of such attacks can further complicate the situation and intensify the TTP’s distrust of the authorities.
Chaudhry Nisar and Qari Jalandhari agreed on the need for holding talks and engaging all stakeholders in the process to increase the level of trust among them.
Qari Jalandhari urged the government to resume efforts for the talks and said that religious scholars had always supported negotiations for the sake of peace in the country. The minister urged Ulema to play a role in evolving confidence building measures and assure Taliban that the government was serious about talks.
They agreed that resolving the issue of militancy required dialogue and if the US and Afghan Taliban could hold talks, what stopped Pakistan and the TTP to do so.
Talking to Dawn, WMA media coordinator Abdul Quddus said that some elements had been trying to derail the dialogue process.
“Pakistan has been fighting against the TTP for over nine years. Now both are of the opinion that issues can be resolved only through talks,” he said.
“Although there is a perception that new TTP chief Maulana Fazlullah is against Pakistan and it is difficult to initiate talks with him, there are some people in the TTP, like Khalid Haqqani, who can persuade him to engage in dialogue and play a role for its success,” he said.
“The WMA believes that peace can be achieved through dialogue but we should not ignore external stakeholders because the world has become a global village,” he said.
The presence of Nato in Afghanistan, he said, also demanded that they should be asked to support the talks because another US attack might do irreparable harm to the efforts for peace.
