deadlock persists

ALI HUSSAIN

ISLAMABAD: A scheduled meeting of the members of government-nominated committee with their counterparts from the Taliban side, which was to be chaired by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, could not be held due to a continued deadlock on certain demands forwarded by the Taliban.

Talking to Business Recorder, the convener of the Taliban-nominated Committee, Maulana Yousaf Shah, confirmed that there was still a deadlock on certain issues. “I’m not aware that the deadlock has been broken,” he said when asked whether an impasse still persisted on the demands forwarded by the Taliban. He further said that they had been conveyed from the government side that “they have some other engagements”.

The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) last Wednesday announced that the Taliban will not extend the ceasefire, alleging the government of demonstrating “non-seriousness” towards its demands – release of its noncombatant prisoners, establishment of “peace-zone” and an end to the ongoing “crackdown” on their members.

Interior Minister has recently indicated that the government intends to release another batch of 13 noncombatant Taliban detainees. However, according to sources, the government has not yet reached any decision in this regard. The government has already released 19 noncombatant Taliban detainees.

To discuss the situation following Taliban’s refusal to extend their ceasefire, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior on Thursday issued a statement quoting Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan as saying that a meeting with Taliban-nominated committee had been called on Saturday so as to take any decision about the future course of action.

However, when contacted that spokesperson on Saturday, he said that no meeting of the Interior Minister was scheduled with Taliban-nominated committee.

Professor Mohammad Ibrahim, another Taliban committee member, stated that peace could not be restored if both sides would keep on threatening each other. According to him, the Taliban committee had not been conveyed whether or not a meeting had been called by the Interior Minister.

He said that the two committees have agreed upon continuing the dialogue process despite reservations by the Taliban on certain issues, as the Taliban have also indicated that they want to keep the dialogue process intact.