Preconditions unacceptable, Government tells Taliban

ISLAMABAD – The government has rejected the Taliban demands of troop’s withdrawal and release of prisoners before any peace talks with the state.

The Taliban had put forwarded several pre-conditions the other day before they sat for peace dialogue.

According to the sources, the government has maintained that it did not lay down any preconditions for the process of talks and would not accept any preconditions from the other party, a private news channel quoted sources as saying.

The sources added that the government reiterated that consensus for peace and stability of the country was built at the national level and it would be achieved at any cost.

The official sources claimed that no pressure would be accepted to challenge the writ of the government and the national interest would not be compromised.

According to the government’s sources, political options were being adopted to root out terrorism from the country; however, all other options were there to tackle the issue. On Sunday, two senior officers of the Pakistan Army, Major General Sanaullah Niazi and Lt Colonel Tausif as well as a soldier were killed in a roadside IED blast near the Pak-Afghan border. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the incident.

The blast occurred as the Taliban outlined a number of pre-conditions to be met before they would take part in peace talks with the government. Earlier, responding to the declaration of All Parties Conference on September 9, spokesman for the TTP Shahidullah Shahid had termed it a positive gesture ahead of initiation of talks.

All political parties of Pakistan endorsed the government’s efforts to negotiate with militants. –