The government of Pakistan has commenced talks with the domestic Taliban movement, which could be a stepping stone for the members of the organization to surrender and be provided with amnesty.
The information minister Fawad Chaudhry said in a televised statement that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an organization that has close links to the movement that regained power in Afghanistan had promised to hold a “complete ceasefire” as long as talks proceed.
It is believed that a large number of TTP fighters have sought shelter in mostly the rugged eastern highlands of Afghanistan neighboring Pakistan, following a military crackdown around a decade ago.
As a response to Pakistan’s support for the US and its war on terror, the Pakistan Taliban plunged the country into one of its most violent periods following its formation in 2007.
The group comprising mostly of ethnic Pashtuns, similar to the Afghan Taliban, carried out a huge number of suicide and bomb attacks as well as kidnappings throughout the country for a number of years before it was crushed by a massive military operation.
The group’s shooting of Nobel peace prize winner Malala Yousafzai in 2012 shocked the world. The massacre of around 150 children at a school in Peshawar in 2014 was when the authorities decided to take action against them.
Chaudhry said that negotiations with the banned outfit will take place “under the constitution and law of Pakistan”. He added, “State sovereignty, national integrity, peace, social and economic stability in the respective areas will be a priority in these talks”.
“The affected people in these areas cannot be ignored in these talks.”
Earlier the government lifted a ban on another radical group, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), which has been staging a series of disruptive protests over the years mainly connected to the issue of blasphemy in Muslim-majority Pakistan.
Officials said on Sunday that the move was in the “national interest”, following the killing of seven police officers in clashes during a rally that started last month.
Earlier on Monday, Chaudhry said that the new rulers in Afghanistan had played “a facilitating role” in encouraging talks with the Pakistan movement.
According to analysts Islamabad’s support for Afghanistan’s Taliban aided in encouraging the growth of the domestic chapter until the group got out of control while seeking power in its own right.
Thousands of Pakistan Taliban escaped to Afghanistan during the military crackdown and fought beside fighters there to overthrow the US-backed government.
