PESHAWAR: Sardar Mehtab Abbasi, the newly sworn in governor of the troubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Tuesday admitted that ongoing peace process with the Pakistani Taliban was complicated which cannot be resolved through political talk shows on TV, DawnNews reported.

Speaking to media representatives after his oath taking ceremony held at the Governor House here, he said the state’s writ should at least be visible in peaceful areas of the province. He said rehabilitation of the terror-hit tribal people will be his top priority.

“FATA is our back-wall…we’ll have to strengthen it,” said Abbasi, vowing to take immediate steps for the development and progress in the area bordering Afghanistan.

He said his administration will work hard towards bringing back FATA in the mainstream.

“Bloodbath in the area must be stopped…we will make FATA the gateway of Afghanistan and Central Asia,” said the KP governor.

Earlier, Chief Justice Peshawar High Court (PHC) Mazhar Alam Khan administered the oath to the new governor.

The ceremony was attended, among other notables, by Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique and PML-N Secretary General Iqbal Zafar Jhagra.

Sardar Mehtab Abbasi had resigned from KP Assembly last week to assume responsibility as governor.

Sami hopeful for TTP peace talks

Meanwhile, Maulana Samiul Haq – head of the Tehreek-i-Taliban committee, who also attended the ceremony at Governor House – showed his optimism on the fate of TTP peace talks, saying a new round of the dialogue process will commence in the next couple of days.

The chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-S), who is known as “Father of Taliban” in the West, said the TTP Shura was serious in restoring peace in the country.

He urged both the sides to concentrate more on restoring peace rather than prisoners’ transfers and other issues.

Advocating Taliban militants, the cleric said the TTP did not violate the ceasefire in the last 45 days.

Commenting on the TTP infighting, he said the rift between both Mehsud Taliban groups had been ongoing for a long time. The JUI-S chief said the differences have been removed among the militants ranks.

He said the TTP Shura meeting was still ongoing and hoped that the ceasefire will be further extended soon. Maulana Samiul Haq said Governor Abbasi was a seasoned politician who will help bring peace to the province.

– Zahir Shah Sherazi contributed to the reporting