PESHAWAR, Feb 3: The banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan has expressed its willingness to hold talks with the government, but on two conditions — release of its seven leaders and guarantees by leaders of PML-N, JUI-F and Jamaat-i-Islami to make the exercise fruitful.

“The release of Muslim Khan, Maulvi Omar and five other Taliban leaders is a prerequisite for talks, while former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Syed Munawar Hasan should be the guarantors,” TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said in a video message released here on Sunday.

He said the release of Muslim Khan and Maulvi Omar was essential because they would be Taliban’s main negotiators. He did not disclose the names of five other leaders the TTP wanted to be released.

He said the Taliban responded positively to an offer for talks, but the government was not serious. The TTP, he added, was serious but wanted its two demands met before any talks.Khyber Pakhtunkhawa Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain welcomed the TTP’s offer and said the government was ready to discuss all issues if peace talks began.

“We have offered talks. Let us initiate dialogue and then all conditions can be discussed, including release of the Taliban prisoners,” he said, adding that the Taliban should not rely only on Muslim Khan and Maulvi Omar because they had other people who could represent them in dialogue with the government.

He said the Awami National Party would soon convene a conference of various parties to work out a common position before holding talks.

He said the army was a major stakeholder on the issue and it must be taken on board after the multi-party confidence.

Adnan Rashid, who had been convicted of attacking former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf and who escaped from the Bannu prison last year, was sitting next to Ehsan in the seven-and-a-half-minute video. Two masked men with AK-47 rifles were standing behind them.

Muslim Khan and Maulvi Omar are said to be in custody of security agencies but they have not been produced before any court.

“Nawaz Sharif, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Syed Munawar Hasan will be the guarantors on behalf of the army,” the Taliban spokesman said. He said peace agreements signed by the TTP with political forces in the past had not been honoured by the army. “It proves that the army wields all powers,” he said.

The TTP spokesman accused the Muttahida Qaumi Movement of killing religious leaders and innocent people and extorting money from shopkeepers and businessmen in Karachi.

He held the MQM responsible for the situation in the city and warned it of dire consequences. “The Taliban had recently attacked a public meeting of the MQM in Karachi and killed its MPA and will continue such attacks,” he warned.

AFP adds: The TTP spokesman urged the Muslim world to unite as they condemned the French military intervention in Mali as an “ideological war”.

“The French government has attacked mujahideen in Mali and America has also agreed to support France. I ask the whole Muslim world to unite because it is an ideological war,” he said.