Given the numerous imponderables besetting the proposed dialogue with Taliban, quite expectedly, the government is not forthcoming about when to talk and who to talk to. Last week, the Prime Minister’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, told reporters in Washington that the dialogue with Taliban ‘may start in the next few days’. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has asked Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali ‘to woo all parties on talks with TTP’. At the same time an impression is gaining ground in Islamabad that initial contacts have been made with the Taliban leadership, with JUI (F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman acting as the government’s principal emissary. The Maulana met the prime minister before the latter’s departure for London, and thereafter the ambassadors of the United States and Saudi Arabia, on Monday. Going by the press statements released, separately, on behalf of the interlocutors the talks appear to be on course. As to why Saudi Arabia is in the loop in this, there is not much on record, but the fact remains that in the evolving regional scenario as the United States is excessively keen on mending fences with Iran, the kingdom would like to be part of the proposed dialogue with the TTP. However, US Ambassador Richard Olson was quite vocal, making known to the general public that “America will provide all possible support to Pakistan for enforcing its writ in tribal areas and dialogue with Taliban”. He is said to have conveyed to the JUI (F) chief that his government is not opposed to the dialogue with Taliban, dispelling the impression to the contrary. So, at least to the extent that Nawaz Sharif government is serious about initiating talks with the TTP, the point has been made. But what lies beyond is anybody’s guess. There are yawning gaps between the agenda of the Taliban and the government of Pakistan, and then there is this mosaic of Taliban, each of the nearly 18 active groups under the overarching umbrella of TTP keen to be an indispensable part of the talks. That these Taliban groups have a common cause against the government of Pakistan is very much there – perhaps because being residents of sanctuaries provided by TTP boss Hakeemullah Mehsud they cannot afford to differ with their host’s worldview. But in case anyone of them, like Asmatullah Muawiya, gets the hint that it can be accommodated elsewhere then there is every possibility of it coming to the parting of ways with the TTP high command. Likewise, any of these TTP components, or even someone out of it but interested in sabotaging the talk, is a potential threat to the peace process. Who should the government talk to is therefore an issue. And, no less importantly, even when all the political parties are supportive of talks with Taliban, the religious parties uphold varying positions. On the day Sunni ulema pledged support to the dialogue process the Shiite Majlis-e-Muslimeen expressed its opposition to it asking how you can talk to the killers of thousands of innocent people. The government would initiate talks only with son-of-the-soil Taliban that’s one more obstacle. The foreigners, who have settled in tribal areas as remnants of the Afghan Jihad, are essentially the foot-soldiers of Al-Qaeda, and have the proven capacity to upstage their local hosts at any time of their liking. To keep them out of the peace process would be very difficult, if not impossible. Do the local Taliban enjoy independence of action and can afford to be at cross purposes with their foreign guests – and as a corollary, of their foreign patrons – we doubt. That said; one would still believe that the time for peace talks has come. Behind their stern-faced composure there are detectable signs of the TTP accepting the reality that they may kill more innocent people but they have already lost the battle of minds and hearts. The Taliban have lost their cause they know it by now. The expected lull in drone strikes would hopefully bring them further close to positively responding to the government offer of talks. And if and when this happens hammering out mutual accommodation on perceptional mismatches on the role of religion and concept of democracy may not be as difficult as it appears to be now – with Maulana Fazlur Rahman in the lead role.