ISLAMABAD: Talks or no talks with the Taliban, the ball is back in the prime minister’s court as the four-member committee constituted by him to hold peace negotiations with the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has expressed its inability to carry forward the process in the wake of continued deadly attacks by militants.

The committee members — Irfan Siddiqui, Major Amir, Rustam Shah Mohmand and Rahimullah Yousufzai — first held an internal meeting on Tuesday and then conveyed their decision to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at his office.

The nearly three-hour meeting between them and the prime minister was also attended by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Information Minister Parvez Rashid.

“Until and unless the Taliban completely shun their violent acts, declare an unconditional and effective ceasefire, this committee is unable to go ahead with the peace talks,” said a handout in Urdu on the meeting issued by the Prime Minister Office.

An official in the PM Office said the statement was drafted by Mr Siddiqui, who is coordinator of the committee and also special assistant to the prime minister on national affairs.

Praising the committee members for their efforts to try to make the talks successful, the prime minister asked them to continue their mutual consultations and guiding role for the government.

After the sitting, the prime minister held a meeting with Chief of the Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, which close watchers here view as an important development against the backdrop of back-to-back attacks on security personnel and a breakdown in the peace process.

While they were meeting, a security forces’ vehicle came under attack near Peshawar in which an army major lost his life.

Neither the PM Office nor the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) issued any handout on the meeting between the army chief and the prime minister.

Summing up the two meetings held by Mr Sharif, another official in the PM Office said that although the government wanted to keep the doors open for talks, it was now increasingly brainstorming other options – whether to go for an all-out assault or a targeted military operation in North Waziristan.

The meeting with the army chief, insisted the official, was an obvious development because if the TTP continued with its deadly attacks the government would have to respond as it was already feeling the heat after the killing of 13 police commandos in Karachi last week and 23 FC personnel in Mohmand Agency the other day.

About the option of using force against Taliban, the official referred to the prime minister’s Jan 29 speech in the National Assembly that force would be used as a last resort. “Whatever information I get from these meetings, the TTP will have to agree to an unconditional ceasefire and talks because the government is fast exhausting its,” the official said.

Asked what would be the best option to deal with the militancy in North Waziristan if talks failed, Rustam Shah Mohmand, a member of the government committee, told Dawn that he was in favour of a targeted operation. According to him, a full-fledged military operation would only result in collateral damage because TTP militants would simply run away only to return and create problems for security forces.

Though not in so many words, the official handout on the meeting between the prime minister and committee members vividly indicated a virtual end to the peace dialogue. “The people of Pakistan wish peace, and we cannot keep playing with their nerves for an indefinite period,” it said.

It said the committee against all odds continued its efforts for peace in the country, but unfortunately the other side —TTP— kept on sending wrong signals with its violent acts. After the Mohmand Agency incident the situation has completely changed. Before that, the committee explained to the prime minister, talks were moving in the right direction.

PTI’s stance

Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), the only parliamentary party which has a representative (Rustam Shah) on the government committee, almost repeated government’s stance.

After its core committee meeting, the PTI said in a statement: “The uninterrupted killings of innocent people and security personnel have created a serious impediment in the attempted process towards a peaceful Pakistan. Therefore, we believe that the dialogue can proceed only when the killing and violence stop and there is a condemnation of acts of senseless violence and of the perpetrators of the same. We continue to believe that negotiations as decided by the APC and supported by the parliament are the right way to go forward, but at the same time we cannot ignore the death of innocent people.”

The PTI called upon the Taliban to go for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, underlining that it was clear now that there were certain groups within the militants who were bent upon destroying the peace process. The party reiterated its stance that talks should be held within the framework of the Constitution.