Pakistan: Negotiating with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan

In an interesting turn of events, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has announced its team of negotiators to talk peace with the government. The interesting part though has been the inclusion of Imran Khan’s name in the list. Imran has distanced himself from the offer, adding however that he has full confidence in the team announced by the government. The team appointed by the Prime Minister (PM) has been given an open mandate to find the best solution to end militancy. The government’s team had been demanding of the militants to form their team of mediators. The team had three meetings on Friday, one with the PM, another with the interior minister and the third one an internal one of the members of the team to develop the modalities of the talks. The team members have made it clear that no preconditions for the talks will be acceptable and that the outcome of the dialogue largely depends on the TTP. Both these contentions are important because these have amongst the reasons behind the failed peace deals the state and the militants entered into the past.

The TTP is the largest militant group in Pakistan and was formed in December 2007. The aims behind the formation of the TTP were to wage war against the Pakistani state after the Lal Masjid affair, impose their version of sharia, and attack the US and UK for being the architects of the Afghan war. The group has been successfully mounting attacks on the Pakistani government, its army and the secular parties, not to mention ordinary citizens. Their devastating reach into the urban areas of the country has virtually left the state in a limbo. The state in the past reached a number of peace deals with the TTP to bring them into the mainstream. In April 2004 the Shakai agreement was signed with Nek Muhammad. In February 2005 the Srarogha peace deal was inked with Baitullah Mehsud, and in April 2008, the two sides reached a peace deal to end violence in the Swat valley. Interestingly, the trend has been that the TTP would sabotage the peace deals within hours of their signing. In fact the deals actually provided a boost to the otherwise unknown militant group, evoking a sense of importance and stature in nonentities like Nek Muhammad and Baitullah.

That the newly formed peace group and its agenda would face the same fate is not an unavoidable consequence. It cannot be possible that the TTP would not bargain for anything that at least resembles their original demands. If these terms prove unacceptable and the talks break down, the government should have a Plan-B waiting.