Friday, April 18, 2014

Pakistan: Taliban are not sincere to peace talks

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) legislators in the Upper House on Thursday claimed that the Taliban are not sincere to peace talks, which is why they have ended the ceasefire.
The Taliban wanted free land to create a headquarters there, meaning that a state within the state, said PPP Senator Rehman Malik while speaking in the zero hours. He asked why the government was accepting their demand of releasing their arrested people.
“Under what law the government released militants? It requires special orders from presidency. Leader of the Taliban, Fazlullah, was sitting in Afghanistan. Does the government take up this issue with the government of Afghanistan?” Rehman Malik asked the government.
He suggested that all parties should sit together and resolve this matter once and for all; otherwise “terrorists’ activities may rise in the near future”.
Earlier, Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the newly appointed governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in his first statement proposed to give general amnesty to the militants. “The statement of the governor would have disastrous implications for the security of the country and the fight against militants.”
Babar said that general amnesty to all militants would meant the release not only the criminals in government custody but also of those who had been arrested, tried, convicted and sent behind the bars.
“Such a policy statement could not have been made by the governor in his personal capacity, nor can he feign ignorance. The governor of the Pakhtunkhwa is the highest representative of the federal government in the militancy infested Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and also the agent of the president for the tribal areas. It is inconceivable that such a statement could have been made without the knowledge and even direction of the federal government.”
He demanded that the federal government must come out clean on the reported statement of the governor and either state that governor has misspoken, or take the nation into confidence over this shift in policy.
Another PPP senator, Mian Raza Rabbani, supporting Babar, said the government should informed the House about the charges against the released militants and if they were not special people of the TTP, then why they demanded their release. Rabbani said the ministers concerned should come on Friday and explain the government’s stance over militants.
Raza Rabbani also moved a motion in which said that the House may discuss the foreign policy of Pakistan, particularly after elections held in Afghanistan and India.

No comments: