A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban says they’ve indefinitely prolonged a cease-fire with the federal government in Islamabad
A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban says they’ve indefinitely prolonged a cease-fire with the federal government in Islamabad
The Pakistani Taliban mentioned on Thursday they’ve indefinitely prolonged a cease-fire with the federal government in Islamabad, following two days of talks with a delegation of Pakistani tribal elders that had been hosted by the Afghan Taliban.
According to Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan group or TTP, the choice was made after “substantial progress” within the talks with the 50-member group of elders.
He didn’t elaborate and there was no fast affirmation from the Pakistani authorities concerning the extension of the truce.
The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group however allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized energy of their nation final August because the U.S. and NATO troops had been within the ultimate phases of their pullout from Afghanistan.
The TTP has waged an insurgency in Pakistan over the previous 14 years, combating for stricter enforcement of Islamic legal guidelines within the nation, the discharge of their members who’re in authorities custody and a discount of Pakistani navy presence within the nation’s former tribal areas.
Khurasani, the TTP spokesman, mentioned the talks in Kabul would proceed within the coming days. There was no assertion from the Afghan Taliban, who prior to now have solely mentioned they provide impartial floor for the talks.
The Taliban in Afghanistan have additionally been encouraging the brand new authorities in Pakistan to achieve a peace settlement with the Pakistani Taliban. The earlier truce between the 2 sides expired on May 30. So far, not one of the cease-fires have paved the way in which for extra everlasting peace.
The Pakistani Taliban have for years used Afghanistan’s rugged border areas for hideouts and for staging cross-border assaults into Pakistan and have now been emboldened by the return to energy of the Afghan Taliban.
The group needs Pakistani authorities forces pull out of former tribal areas of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, launch all of the TTP fighters in authorities custody and revoke all of the authorized instances towards them.
The authorities in Islamabad, however, needs the Pakistani Taliban disbanded and for the insurgents to simply accept Pakistan’s structure and sever all their ties with the Islamic State group, one other Sunni militant group with a regional affiliate that’s energetic in each Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Pakistani tribal elders had been despatched to Kabul as intermediaries as a result of beneath Pakistan’s structure, the federal government can not negotiate — at the very least circuitously — with these waging an insurgency towards it.
Source: www.thehindu.com
