Committees agree actions against peace will hamper talks

ISLAMABAD: The committees formed by the government and Taliban have issued a joint statement following their meeting held here on Friday.

The joint statement emphasised that actions against peace would be detrimental to peace talks.

The government committee informed the Taliban committee that any further attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) would not be tolerated. The government committee stated that if attacks continued it would become difficult to continue the dialogue process.

The Taliban nominated committee presented figures pertaining to TTP members being killed in Swabi, Peshawar and Karachi. The committee also assured their government counterparts that the Taliban would be urged to stop attacks. The Taliban committee said the government committee’s concerns would be conveyed to the TTP and they were hopeful of a positive response.

Maulana Samiul Haq who is a member of the committee nominated by the Taliban said they did not allow a deadlock in talks and expressed hope that a ceasefire would be announced in 48 hours.

The meeting was held following a car bombing targeting the police in Karachi on Thursday. The responsibility of the bombing which resulted in the death of 13 policemen was claimed by the Taliban. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid in the statement claiming responsibility said the Taliban would continue to carry out attacks in their defence until a ceasefire was announced.

Following Thursday’s attack, parliamentarians voiced their concern over the dialogue process stating that acts of terrorism and talks could not coexist.