PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has welcomed the announcement of ceasefire by the federal government and suspension of air strikes in response to such a decision by Taliban.

The chief minister said in a statement on Sunday that the centre’s decision was according to the aspirations of the nation and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government would extend all-out support to the federal government in this regard. He said the KP government emphasised on dialogue from the very beginning as bloodshed always complicated things rather than resolving them.

He said that the ceasefire announcement from both the sides was in fact a good omen for peace and the people of KP and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) were happy to hear the news.

He said that the fresh developments would greatly help in creating environment for confidence building on both sides and thus lead the peace talks to a pleasant end.

“We want peace not only here in our province but all over the country and the tribal belt while the fresh developments are substance of relief and encouragement for the entire nation and we see visible signs of durable peace coming back to this region,” Mr Khattak said.

The chief minister hoped that sincerity would be the key to success of the dialogue where both the sides should show patience and prudence.

Earlier, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government thanked the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for its seriousness in holding peace talks and asked the federal government to reciprocate without succumbing to foreign pressure.

Information Minister Shah Farman told a press conference here on Sunday that the provincial government was happy because of TTP’s ceasefire decision and would want the centre to show seriousness and reciprocate the gesture.

“We request the federal government to positively look into the extraordinary opportunity emerged after TTP’s ceasefire decision and without giving up to pressure from any foreign power it should strive to negotiate peace for the sake of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and future of the youth,” the minister said, terming the TTP’s decision as “a ray of hope” to restore peace to the province.

The KP government, he said, believed that the federal government would not waste the opportunity for which “we are really thankful to theKP govt welcomes centre’s decision to cease fire TTP’s Shura”.

He said that when the time came and the talks got underway, the provincial government would play its role in accordance with the responsibility delegated to it.

“Those who do not want to see peace in this country, they would not support it, but this time they would not be able to sabotage it,” said Mr Farman, adding that “we want to convey this message to the federal government that the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are really happy, peace is becoming a reality”.

He said it was encouraging that none of the TTP groups had objected to the ceasefire decision, which, he added, would facilitate the peace process.

“This [talks] is a political process, US has held talks with Taliban at Qatar, and Karzai, too, has held dialogue with Taliban,” said the minister, “here, too, there is a need for confidence building measures to overcome the trust deficit between the parties to the crisis”.

Answering a question, he said the provincial government thought the one month timeframe for the ceasefire would be sufficient for developing confidence between the two sides. “During this period, their seriousness and sincerity would become clear,” he said.

The minister, however, said it would take longer to resolve all the issues and fully restore peace. The two sides, he said, had been fighting for the past 10 years.

When asked about his party chairman Imran Khan’s decision to support the military operation after a series of terrorist attacks, Mr Farman said Mr Khan had lent support after the spate of attacks that took place after the all-party conference.

“Taliban did not accept those attacks after which we were forced to think about the third force,” said Mr Farman, linking Mr Khan’s agreement to support the military operation against the third force.

Answering another question, he said that the KP government would stand with those who would come up with a genuine suggestion for restoring peace, work for peace, and stand for the country and people.