Peshawar, Apr 23 (PTI) Contrary to Pakistan’s federal government policy of not holding “meaningful dialogue” with the banned Pakistani Taliban, Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur of the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has called for negotiations with the dreaded terrorist group to maintain lasting peace in the restive region.
After the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) called off its ceasefire in November 2022, Pakistan has been hit by a wave of terrorism, mostly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but also in Balochistan and Punjab, which borders the province. Terror attacks have also reached as far as Islamabad and Karachi.
Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Gandapur said talks with the militants are necessary for ensuring peace in the province and a viable strategy at the national level should be evolved to halt further damage to the region.
“We fully support meaningful dialogue with the militant organisation to improve the law and order situation in the province,” he said.
Evolving a national-level strategy is a must to end the menace of terrorism. Dialogues with the militant outfit should be held within the parameters of the outlined national security strategy to end the problem on a sound footing, the chief minister from jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, said.
Formal talks were held with the TTP leadership when Imran Khan was in power. Many delegations from Pakistan visited Kabul for talks. However, all efforts remained inconclusive. After the regime change in Islamabad in 2022, the government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif discontinued the talk process with TTP and decided to go for military operations against the terrorists.
In 2023, Pakistan decided not to support the Afghan Taliban’s case at the international level or extend any other assistance following Kabul’s failure to neutralise the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terror group.
The TTP, which has ideological linkages with the Afghan Taliban and is also known as the Pakistan Taliban, was set up as an umbrella group of several militant outfits in 2007. Its main aim is to impose its strict brand of Islam across Pakistan.
Pakistan had hoped that the Afghan Taliban after coming to power would stop the use of their soil against Pakistan by expelling the TTP operatives, but they have apparently refused to do so at the cost of straining ties with Islamabad.
Taliban has been denying the presence of TTP in Afghanistan and reiterated that the Islamic Emirate is committed to preventing the use of Afghan soil as a launchpad for attacks on other nations. PTI AYZ SCY AKJ SCY SCY
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.