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Govt to pursue specified agenda in talks with TTP

By Baqir Sajjad Syed 2014-04-29
ISLAMABAD: A high-level meeting on national security decided on Monday to pursue specified agenda in talks with Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and to make the process resultoriented.

There was consensus among the participants that the dialogue process with Taliban should have a concise agenda and dialogue should take place under well-defined parameters, said an official statement on the meeting presided over by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif, Director General of the InterServices Intelligence Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam and Fawad Hassan Fawad, a member of the government team for talks with the TTP, attended the meeting which took place ahead of the next round of talks between the government and TTP shura expected later this week.

The TTP has not extended the `ceasefire` which expired on April 10, despite the release of militant prisoners.

Interior Minister Nisar told the meeting that he had already conveyed to the Taliban negotiating team that it was time `the dialogue process achieves tangible results`.

There have been a number of violent attacks, possibly linked to Taliban militants, since the `ceasefire` ended and only on Sunday an officer and two other security men were killed in a bomb attack in Waziristan.

Law-enforcement agencies have found links of some of the attacks that took place during the `cease-fire`, including at the Islamabad fruit market, to militants in tribal areas. Aerial attacks on sanctuaries in Khyber last week were said to be reprisal strikes for the Islamabad bombing and other terrorist incidents.

The meeting seems to have agreed on pursuing dual track of dialogue and action against militants who continue to engage in violence.

`Serious apprehensions were expressed over recent terrorism incidents and commitment to take effective action against the perpetratorsbehind such incidents was reiterated,` the official statement said.

ISI chief Gen Islam gave a briefing on the security situation.

Statements made at the session, at least those that were revealed, made it clear that the government was in no mood of keeping the process open-ended and wanted it to reach a logical conclusion at the earliest.

The meeting asked Chaudhry Nisar to tell the Taliban negotiators to get a clear list of demands from the TTP shura and seek a well-defined timeline for negotiations from them.PM PRAISES ISI: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif commended the InterServices Intelligence for it is role in `the protection and defence of the country`.

Mr Sharif`s appreciation comes against the backdrop of allegations against the spy agency in the aftermath of an attack on Geo TV anchor Hamid Mir.

The government was criticised for not having spoken up in support of the agency that technically worked directly under the prime minister`s command.