Pakistani Taliban, Govˈt Negotiation Teams Fail To Hold First Meeting

Islamabad, Feb 6, IRNA – The proposed peace talks between the Pakistani Taliban and the government have faced deadlock after controversy surfaced over the refusal of the two members to join the Taliban negotiations team. The Taliban on had appointed a five-member committee of senior religious and political leaders for talks with the government’s committee earlier on Sunday. However the two members later quit the Taliban team, creating uncertainty about the future of the dialog. A government committee, formed to hold peace talks with a Taliban negotiations team, could not hold their first meeting in Islamabad on the plea that the Taliban committee was weakened and that they needed some clarifications. The head of the Taliban committee, Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, regretted the refusal by the government committee to hold talks with his team. “I think there is some pressure on the government and that is why its team is reluctant to meet us,” Sami-ul-Haq told a news conference. He said that the Taliban have given complete powers to the three members to go ahead with the talks with the government team. “I will appeal to the government not to miss the opportunity for elusive peace,” the Maualana said after presiding over a meeting of the Taliban committee. The coordinator of the government dialog team, Irfan Siddiqui, has said the government side it wanted to have certain unidentified issues cleared before the dialogue process formally began. The Taliban had named a five-member intermediary team that comprised Jamaat-e-Islami leader Professor Mohammad Ibrahim, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-S) Chief Maulana Samiul Haq, JUI-F politician Mufti Kifayatullah, Red Mosque Islamabad’s Prayers Imam Maulana Abdul Aziz and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf Chief Imran Khan. However, two members of the team – JUI-F’s Mufti Kifayatullah and PTI’s Imran Khan – have declined to be part of the Taliban committee. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has said it has reposed confidence in three remaining members of the committee. According to Irfan Siddiqui, the coordinator for the government’s negotiation committee, the meeting scheduled to be held on Tuesday, was delayed because its members wanted a few clarification from the TTP before the dialogue process formally began. The Taliban, however, said they trusted the three members in their committee and they will go ahead with the negotiation process./end