TTP ends ceasefire with govt, orders nationwide attacks
Taliban say decision was taken ater its members were targeted in a ‘series of non-stop atacks’ in Bannu and Lakki Marwat districts; Khar visits Kabul to hold ‘political dialogue’ with Afghan Taliban
Pakistan’s Taliban said Monday they have called off a shaky ceasefire agreed with the government in June and ordered fighters to stage atacks across the country.
The Tehrik-e-taliban Pakistan (TTP), a separate entity from the Taliban in Afghanistan but sharing a similar Islamist ideology, have been responsible for hundreds of atacks and thousands of deaths since emerging in 2007.
They agreed to a truce earlier this year ater Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers took a prominent role in brokering peace talks, but negotiations made litle progress and there were frequent breaches.
Thedecisionwastakenater“aseriesofnon-stop atacks were launched by the military organisations in Bannu and Lakki Marwat districts,” the TTP statement said while addressing its militants.
“We... have shown our continued patience so that the negotiation process is not sabotaged,” the TTP said in a statement. “But the army and intelligence agencies do not stop and continue the atacks, so now our retaliatory atacks will also start across the country.”
Less than two weeks ago the TTP claimed an ambush that killed six policemen in northwest Pakistan, claiming they were ploting a “raid” on their base in the area.
Since Friday the military has been patrolling the area in an atempt to root out militants, with helicopter gunships shelling their hideouts.
The TTP was founded in 2007 by Pakistani militants who fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan in the 1990s before opposing Islamabad’s support for American intervention there ater 9/11. For a time they held vast tracts of Pakistan’s rugged tribal belt, imposing Islamic law and patrolling territory just 140 kilometres from the Pakistan capital.
The Pakistani military came down hard ater 2014 when militants raided a school for children of army personnel and killed nearly 150 people, most of them pupils.
Its fighters were largely routed into neighbouring Afghanistan, but Islamabad claims the Taliban in Kabul are now giving the TTP a foothold to stage assaults across the border.
In the year since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, Pakistan has seen a 50 per cent surge in militant atacks, according to the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS).
Lawmakers and business owners in northwest Pakistan have also told AFP that instances of TTP blackmail in the area have increased.
The presence of militants in the area is a deeply sensitive topic for Islamabad, which has long struggled to establish a writ there.
Analyst Saad Khan, a Peshawar-based retired brigadier, played down the significance of the TTP statement saying the ceasefire was barely observed anyway.
“The Afghan Taliban have assured the whole world that they will not allow their territory to be used against any other country,” he told AFP.
“It is important to initiate serious negotiations with the Afghan Taliban on this issue and make them aware of the seriousness of the mater.”
In a separate development, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar will lead a delegation to Kabul for a one-day visit on Tuesday.
In Kabul, the minister of state will hold political dialogue with the Afghan interim government.
“Bilateral relations, including cooperation in the areas of education, trade and investment, regional connectivity, people-to-people contacts and maters related to regional security will be discussed,” the Foreign Office spokesperson said in a press release on Monday.
Hina Rabbani Khar will also reaffirm Pakistan’s continued commitment and support for all efforts aimed at strengthening peace and enhancing prosperity in Afghanistan.
“As a friend and neighbour of Afghanistan, Pakistan will reaffirm its abiding solidarity with the people of Afghanistan, in particular through its efforts to ease the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and to create real opportunities for economic prosperity of Afghan men, women and children,” it was further added.
Earlier this month, Pakistan, in an unusual move, had given a damning assessment of the Afghan Taliban regime’s 16 months in power, saying the interim government has done litle to form inclusive government, protect the rights of women and eradicate terrorist groups.