Pakistani Taliban, Gov’t Committees Set To Hold Talks

Islamabad, Feb 6, IRNA – Members of the committees formed by the Pakistani Taliban and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for peace talks are scheduled to meet later on Thursday, a member of the Taliban’s nominated team said. Maulana Abdul Aziz, prayers leader of Islamabad’s “Red Mosque” said the talks will be held at an undisclosed location. It will be the first meeting between the two sides since the committees have been formed last week. The talks, scheduled to be held on Tuesday, could not be held after two members of the five-member Taliban committee refused to join the process. The Taliban have not included any of their members in the team and had formed a team of religious and political leaders. The gov’t team also suggested the Taliban to include at least one of their members in their delegation. Maulana Aziz said the Taliban negotiators will decide when and where to meet the Taliban representatives after the first round of talks with the government’s team. He said they either go to meet the Taliban leaders or invite them somewhere near Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He said the Taliban have not yet conveyed their demands to the negotiators. “The Taliban leaders have told us they are waiting for meeting with us,” the senior cleric said. Coordinator of the government dialog team, Irfan Siddiqui, says the government side wanted to have certain unidentified issues cleared before the dialogue process formally begins. The Taliban have given go ahead to the three members to begin talks with the government’s team to take the process forward, the Taliban spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid says. Head of the Taliban committee, Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, told a news conference this week, “I think there is some pressure on the government and that is why its team is reluctant to meet us”. He said the Taliban have given full authority to the three members to go ahead with the talks with the government team./end