Comprehensive talks with TTP to resume soon: Nisar
islamabad — Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar has dismissed reports of any deadlock in the peace initiative and said talks with the Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP) will enter a “comprehensive” phase in a few days.
The minister acknowledged that recent statements (by some ministers) had created problems (with the army) and also caused delay in peace dialogue but expressed confidence that the matter would be resolved soon.
He said both sides are set to put forward formal agendas.
Nisar’s announcement came days after the infighting between the Taleban groups killed more than 60 people and a ceasefire deadline by the militants expired on Saturday.
The TTP, which announced a ceasefire last month and then extended it for six more days on April 6, has not announced any further extension, but there have been no attacks on the ground since. “Formal comprehensive talks will start from the next meeting which will hopefully take place within the next couple of days,” Nisar said.
“You will get to know the main agenda both from the government side and the other side in the next meeting. The next meeting will come up with the comprehensive agenda from both the sides,” he said.
He said that the government is in the process of releasing more than 30 non-combatant Taleban prisoners in a bid to take the dialogue process forward.
“We will release up to 13 more prisoners. After their release, the .number of total freed non-combatant prisoners will go up to more than 30,” Nisar said.
In March the Taleban handed over a list of 300 people including women, children, and old men, seeking their release.
The interior minister said that the government has also taken up the issue of the release of a senior academic — Professor Mohammed Ajmal — as also of the sons of slain former Punjab governor Salman Taseer and former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, and other abductees in return for its concessions to TTP demands.
The peace talks were a key campaign pledge for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif before he was elected to office for a third time last year.