PM tasks Samiul Haq to revive conditions for Taliban talks
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday delegated Maulana Samiul Haq, chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam and chairman of the Pakistan Defence Council, the task to create a feasible environment to initiate a dialogue with the Pakistani Taliban, DawnNews quoted sources as saying.
Haq met with the prime minister today and the two discussed the strategy to revive conditions to initiate peace talks with the Taliban, sources said.
Prime Minister Sharif expressed serious interest in reviving the conditions for talks with the Taliban and requested Haq to assist the government in clearing the way for such dialogue to take place.
During the meeting, the premier said talks with the Taliban was the better option and Haq assured Prime Minister Sharif that he would do his utmost to enable the process.
The JUI-S chief told the prime minister that every time the government planned to talk peace with the militants, foreign powers tried to sabotage the process.
He added that the government would have to rethink its policies against terrorism and that it would also have to halt the action against militants in North Waziristan.
Haq also stressed that drone attacks in the country’s tribal areas would have to be stopped in order to revive the conditions for peace talks.
Hours later, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said no one had been mandated when it came to talks with the Taliban, adding that a governmental team was working in this regard.
The federal minister was speaking at a an inaugural ceremony of a regional passport office in Rawalpindi.
He further said that no operation had been launched in the North Waziristan tribal region and added that soon the country would see progress on the issue of talks with the Taliban.
Comments (12) Closed
Someone has killed thousands of Pakistanis and they have openly accept the responsibility for all the killings and still our government want to talk with them.Our army is one of the best armies and we are a nuclear power but still we can not avenge our dead and we have to talk to the killers so they can not kill more Pakistanis. The only thing which has weaken Taliban so far are the drones.Hakimullah Masud's death in a drone attack has weaken Taliban and th number of terrorist attack in Pakistan after that has gone down considerably and still our government want to talk .Musharaf who have defended us against terrorists is in court and the guys who want to lick the boot of our killers are in government and we wonder what is wrong with Pakistan.
I am having serious reservation about the sincerity of Pakistan Govt. I am pretty sure that Maulana Sami ul Haq can deliver. But what about stopping drone attacks as a beginning?.
It is sad that country's elected prime minister is using the help of an extremist Moulvi to talk to savages. Talking to savages like Taliban, LJ, LeT and other extremist is not the solution. Solution lay in the complete elimination of all extremist.
They won't talk.
Chief Maulana Samiul Haq can do nothing to bring Taliban at the table.
I hope he can negotiate some kind of agreement to begin talks....but I suspect he will not be able to get the TTP/Taliban to agree to any conditions such as accepting the constitution of Pakistan....and then to save face he will just blame the failure on the USA and the war with TTP will continue...
I wish sense prevail in the minds of all those who are repeatedly saying about talks with TTP,They don't know who has made TTP and what is its purpose,they will not stop killing people,stop explosions,destruction of schools,kidnapping,attack on polio teams.TTP is not a cause,its made to destroy Pakistan-when our authorities will understand and the all maulanas.
This is like asking the arsonist to put out the fire.........hilarious.
Talibans killed thousand of innocent Pakistanis and have vowed to keep killing more. They are vicious killer and government want to give them a way out instead of facing justice. That is weakness and symbol of coming failure.
I am not surprised at the choice of the Prime Minister because he does not want to include top performers in his team.
@Debjit: You said it. BRAVO!!!
Every war soon or later end up on Peace agreements, table talks, and give and take dialogues. 30 years of was in Afghanistan with Russians & after that NATO allies did not resolve the terrorism in the region. Taliban are the worst enemy for region peace because they do not have nothing to lose. That is their winning point ! And Pakistan's losing point.... Pakistan has to offer some thing to buy peace for primitive worriers, and corrupted war lords.... Every peace has its price to pay. ........ Peace is very expensive commodity not for poor countries as Pakistan !!