LAHORE, Nov 14: The Sunni Ittehad Council said on Thursday that the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan was now backing out of its Manazra challenge on jihad and martyrdom.

The TTP had pledged to cease its activities in Pakistan if its representatives lost the debate.

Accepting the challenge, the SIC had asked the Taliban to either visit Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi or Islamabad for the debate.

The TTP, however, refused to visit these cities, saying its activists couldn’t afford to come out of their hidings.

It also criticized the SIC for setting tough conditions for the debate.

In a statement, the SIC said a panel of judges headed by the CJP and comprising non-political clerics/scholars and chief justices of high courts could be constituted to watch the manazra.

The SIC rejected the Taliban proposal to hold the debate outside Pakistan. It also urged country’s top clerics and religious parties’ leaders to unite to make the Taliban surrender.