WILAYAH NEWS VOICE OF THE GLOBAL AWAKENING
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Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been informed by the committee dealing with negotiations with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) that the TTP has specified certain demands for negotiation.
The Taliban have welcomed Prime Minister Sharif’s latest offer of peace talks, but demanded that the negotiations take a low profile; that the government should release TTP members currently in jails waiting for hanging after their conviction from court, without their release shared with media; and that the army check posts in and around North and South Waziristan be removed.
The TTP Shura (committee) has declared that serious negotiations will start after the Sharif government shows these goodwill gestures. No information is present yet as to how many and who are demanded to be released from jails. There are allegedly 4,752 TTP terrorists in Pakistani jails, who have killed more than 70,000 citizens across the country.
The TTP also demanded that the current four-member committee set up by the government to negotiate potential truce terms be extended to include 5 more people. On 30th January, Sharif had chosen a former Intelligence Bureau official, a former Pakistani ambassador (now a member of the official opposition), and journalists Irfan Siddiqui and Rahimullah Yusufzai, as members of the negotiating committee. The individuals proposed by Taliban to represent the government include:
- Imran Khan, leader of the opposition party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) who hailed Sharif’s decision for the talks.
- Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, ‘Father of the Taliban’ who recently criticized Sharif of not being serious about holding talks.
- Ibrahim Khan of Jamaat-e-Islami, who is known to have venerated the slain Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud as a martyr.
- Mufti Kifayatullah of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF).
- Maulana Abdul Aziz, who heads the Al Qaeda-affiliated Lal Masjid in Islamabad.
Three of the five persons nominated by the Taliban have agreed to join the government committee if Islamabad accepts the Taliban’s suggestion.
“I will continue to be a part of the committee if the government shows sincerity in looking into [the Taliban’s] demands,” said Aziz. “And, of course, the major demand is enforcement of Shariah in the country.”
Meanwhile, the JUIF wants to think over the nomination of Kifayatullah, and the PTI appears not to want its chief on the committee. The Taliban “should select their own Taliban representatives for peace talks,” PTI leader Khan posted on Twitter. “We have full faith in the 4-member committee announced by the government. We will however, discuss how PTI can be of further assistance to advance the dialogue in our core committee meeting on Monday.”
The Taliban side of the negotiations will be led by Qari Shakeel of Mohmand Agency, who heads the Pakistani Taliban’s “political wing.” Some others among the nine-member Taliban team include Ihsanullah Ihsan, Shahidullah Shahid, and Asmatullah Muawiya.
The Taliban stated that they are ready for “meaningful negotiations” provided that the government is “serious.” Experts express doubt if much would come from the establishment of the two committees, suggesting that the Taliban were biding their time and are not committed to the talks. “The strategy is to avoid military action until the end of 2014 when international troops withdraw from Afghanistan,” said security analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi. “This will help them join hands with the Afghan Taliban and focus their full attention on securing control of the tribal regions.”
