After a 'straight no' from the armed forces to become part of ongoing peace process with the Taliban, the federal government is still optimistic to hear a good news from the Taliban committee, which left for North Waziristan Agency (NWA) on Thursday via special chopper to hold talks with the Taliban Shura.
The members of the Taliban committee, who have embarked upon a visit to NWA with great expectations to come back with some progress, include Maulana Yousuf Shah, co-ordinator of the committee, Professor Ibrahim of Jamaat-i-Islami and Maulana Abdul Hai. Irfan Siddiqui, special assistant to the prime minister, and previously a member of the government intermediary committee, told reporters that the committee would hold successful negotiation with the militants, as the atmosphere has remarkably improved after first phase of the talks.
To substantiate his claim, he said when the talks with the Taliban started some months back, nobody believed it would lead to a cease-fire and pave the way for carrying forward the talk process to bring peace to the country. "When we started the talks, we never thought of getting through so smoothly but the way things started improving, it was really encouraging. Now the country seems purged of militancy to a great extent due to the ongoing peace talks," he claimed.
To a question about lifting the ban on outlawed TTP, he said no such demand came from the Taliban side, adding that if the militants put forth such a demand, the government would take a decision after meaningful consultation with all stakeholders. During the earlier talks, he said, a two-member delegation met Taliban leadership and for the first time the government forwarded the ambit of negotiations in writing, consisting of several items, which was responded positively by the Taliban - a good step which helped in melting the ice.
However, he said, after the killing of 23 FC personnel in Afghanistan and a terrorist attack on a police bus in Karachi, the government told Taliban to announce an unconditional cease-fire, which they accepted - yet another breakthrough which helped in augmenting the dialogue process. After completing the first phase of the dialogue process, he added, both the committees unanimously requested the prime minister to form a new committee, which could take decisions in light of the earlier negotiations. "The committee has left for NWA for holding talks and the situation will become clear within a day or two after they are back....then we will be in a better position to know whether Taliban want direct or indirect talks," he added.
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