ISLAMABAD: The government has not yet decided if it would extend amnesty to the members of the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), National Security Advisor (NSA) Moeed Yusuf said as reports emerged of a month-long truce between Islamabad and the proscribed group.
The government announced Monday it and the TTP had agreed on a “complete cease-fire” in a bid to negotiate an end to years of militancy.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry, who made the disclosure while speaking to Pakistan Television, said the tentative truce “would be extendable, keeping in view the progress of negotiations”.
The talks have reportedly been mediated by the Taliban’s Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, the head of the notorious Haqqani network, the lethal arm of the Taliban. Interestingly, the network is a US-designated terrorist organisation and Haqqani is among the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s most-wanted fugitives.
Today, Yusuf, who was sitting in a television programme, when asked, said: “I don’t know where this talk [of amnesty to the group] started from […] There is no such decision [at this moment].”
The official said the government was aware that previous agreements with the TTP — in 2004, 2006 and 2009 — had not held but added that at the present stage, talks were being held and the government would see if the militant body was “serious”.
“The state’s job is to defend its public and not to go with the kinetic option — using bullets — until it becomes impossible to avoid it,” he stressed.
“This [TTP talks] is an emotional issue. No citizen is left who has not been directly or indirectly affected by terrorism.”
When asked about opposition MPs not being satisfied with the security briefing given last week by the top military brass in the Parliament, Yusuf said: “It is their choice. The state can only inform [them].”
“This is a decision of the entire nation. These processes [of talks] will continue.”
‘ABANDONING AFGHANISTAN A MISTAKE’
Meanwhile, Yusuf, while talking to a four-member American delegation headed by Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Staff Director Chris Socha in Islamabad, said a repeat of the historic mistake of abandoning the state of Afghanistan by the global community would prove to be disastrous.
The official said the world needed to constructively engage the Taliban in order to prevent governance collapse and avert another refugee crisis.
He said Pakistan was coordinating with the world to have a stable and peaceful Afghanistan.
Both sides discussed the situation of Afghanistan along with the ways to enhance cooperation in light of the regional and international developments and challenges.
The two sides also exchanged views on the importance of developing the strategic relationship between Pakistan and the United States and the determination to strengthen ties in all sectors and vital areas of cooperation.
