LAHORE: Maulana Samiul Haq, the chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-S) and a member of the now dysfunctional Taliban negotiation committee, said on Thursday that dialogue is the only solution to bring back peace in the country, DawnNews reported.

Speaking at a press conference here, he urged the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to pursue peace talks with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), saying that the country was currently in a state of war.

Commenting on last night’s US drone attacks in North Waziristan, the JUI-S chief said: “The government can see now that drone strikes have started again as soon as peace talks is over with the Taliban.”

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Maulana Sami, who is known as “Father of Taliban” in the West, said he entered into the government’s peace initiative with all honesty. He blamed the government for derailing the peace process.

“(Military) operation is not the solution to the issue … were you expecting that Taliban will present sweets to you?” he said.

He condemned the armed attack on Karachi airport that killed 37 people including all ten terrorists on Sunday night.

Maulana Sami said that involvement of foreign hands was being investigated in the airport attack.

Commenting on Pakistani forces’ air strikes in North Waziristan, he said thousands of tribesmen have fled the area due to the ongoing ‘war.’ He said his party would do all possible to help the IDPs.