ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Thursday explained that the government of Pakistan does not intend to hold talks with the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and also clarified that Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s visit to Afghanistan in “private capacity” is not being sponsored by the government.

Speaking at her weekly media briefing, in response to journalists’ queries, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch once again reiterated Pakistan’s demand from the Afghan interim government to take effective action against terrorist elements including the TTP leadership.

She said the Afghan authorities should ensure the elimination of terrorist hideouts and hand over the TTP leaders to Pakistan responsible for terror incidents in the country.

“There is no change in Pakistan’s policy towards the TTP. We have no dialogue taking place with the TTP nor do we have the intent to hold talks with it which is responsible for several terror incidents in Pakistan,” she said in response to the queries.

In response to another query, she said that the JUI-F chief is a private citizen and is on a private visit to Afghanistan. However, she stated that on his desire, the Foreign Office had briefed him prior to his visit to Afghanistan. “This is in normal practice whenever a public figure visits a foreign country, they request such briefings from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and we do give briefings on Pakistan’s policy with the country where they are visiting and that was the case in this situation as well,” she said. She further stated that this is a private visit and not sponsored by the Government of Pakistan. “So, we are not in a position to comment on the substance of those meetings which may have taken place in Afghanistan. Once Mr. Fazal-Ur-Rahman comes back and if we are briefed on those meetings, only then we would be able to comment on the substance of such meetings,” she said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024