PESHAWAR, Oct 12: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senior Minister and Awami National Party leader Bashir Ahmad Bilour on Wednesday regretted the repeated demands by head of certain political party for holding negotiations with Taliban and said that such statements could be given by politicians lacking sagacity.

He was talking to a group of journalists here. Apparently referring to Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan, the minister said that making such demands after exposure to the nefarious designs of Taliban put a question mark on the political maturity of the politician.

He said that Taliban had been involved in terrorist activities, killing of innocent people in suicide blasts and destabilising the country.

Mr Bilour said that the former player advocating dialogue with those who had killed women and children and targeted security forces must know that politics was not a playground where every technique could be tried.

“Politics is a delicate business specially when related to defence of the country and security of its people,” he said and added that the present ANP-led provincial government believed in philosophy of non-violence and had held prolonged parleys with Taliban, inked a peace agreement and showed much leniency.

The minister said that the soft gesture of the government was not only misused, but the Taliban used the situation to strengthen themselves and breached the peace agreement and again started destroying schools and public buildings and killing people in suicide attacks. The Taliban even gave a deadline to the provincial government for resignation, he said.

He said that that the government had eliminated subversive elements from Malakand.

The senior minister said that even laymen would not support parleys with Taliban who even did not spare to kill people in mosques and Eidgahs. He said that it was need of the hour to crush all terrorist elements with a spirit of national cohesion and unity.

In reply to a question, he said that the nation was in a state of war and this war could be won only by taking part with the same spirit as demonstrated by our forefathers in the war of independence. — APP