KOHAT, Feb 16: Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain has said 26 political and religious parties have agreed to hold dialogue with the Taliban.

He was speaking at a ceremony held to distribute compensation cheques among the relatives of bomb blast victims here on Saturday.

The minister said after the death of Bashir Bilour the government took the initiative to hold fresh dialogue with the Taliban, but they were not ready to surrender. He vowed that the talks with the Taliban would be held within the ambit of the law and the constitution.

ANP provincial president Afrasiab Khattak said on the occasion that the terrorists were trying to spread hatred among the people specially sectarianism.

He recalled that an agreement had been reached with TTP at one stage but they backed out and started carrying out blasts at religious places and killing security forces.