ISLAMABAD: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman appears to be pessimistic about the success of a dialogue process which the government wants to initiate with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to restore peace.
Referring to the government’s stance of “giving one more chance to peace”, the JUI-F head said in a statement on Friday: “These words indicate insincerity and conspiracy.”
He said such words should not be used during dialogue.
The JUI-F chief had earlier been tasked by the government to hold negotiations with the Taliban.
The JUI-F spokesman Jan Achakzai, while talking to Dawn, said Maulana Fazl had many concerns regarding the government’s approach.
He said the first reservation was about the composition of the government’s four-member committee recently formed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the talks.
He said Maulana Fazl was of the view that none of the committee’s members had any experience of attending a tribal Jirga and they lacked the approach and expertise required for such a dialogues process.
He said at least one member from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas establishment should have been included to make the Taliban understand in a traditional way whatever the government wanted to convey to them.
“One of the members of the committee is from Fata but he is a retired government official, while two are journalists who do not have any know-how of tribal Jirga,” he said.
The JUI-F also expressed concern over non-induction of any religious leader or scholar in the committee.
“Taliban will definitely plead their major demand of imposition of Sharia in the country by quoting verses of the holy Quran while the government’s side has no one who can answer them in the same way,” the spokesman said.
Mr Achakzai said the government had not given a mandate to the committee to take any decision on its behalf during the dialogue process.
The spokesman said the chances of success of the dialogue were meagre because the government was going to repeat the mistakes committed in all previous peace talks with the Taliban.
He, however, said the JUI-F fully supported the government in the peace talks because it believed that the country could not afford any more instability and unrest.
