NOWSHERA, Oct 18: Chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Maulana Samiul Haq has criticised the federal government for not starting serious dialogue with Taliban, saying that the government has missed several opportunities to initiate talks with them.

He termed the policies of present rulers a continuation of the previous governments.

Addressing a congregation on the occasion of Eidul Azha prayers here at Madrassa Haqqania, he said that policies of present rulers were worse than that of former presidents Asif Zardari and Pervez Musharraf.

`The present government has failed to bring any change in the already tested policies of previous governments,` he said.

Mr Haq stated that the government was making tall claims of change, but had lost many opportunities of dialogue offered by Taliban unconditionally.

`Use of force is no solution to the issue and it is evident from the fact that the Americans used all sorts of force, but failed to defeat Taliban,` he said.

He said that drone attacks were a violation of the international law and sovereignty of the country, but the government had not been taking any step to stop them.

The JUI-S chief held the government responsible for the killing of 50,000 people across the country in acts of terrorism, saying that it was the fallout of war on terrorism.

TWO KILLED: Two persons were killed and 16 others, including six women, injured when an oil tanker collided with a passenger coach here at Risalpur on Friday.

Police said that a Mardan-bound oil tanker (C-2558) coming from Peshawar hit a coach (P-2956) and as a result two passengers identified as Waheed, a resident of Swat, and Mohammad Khan, a resident of Akora Khattak, died.

The injured were taken to hospitals in Nowshera and Mardan. The tanker driver escaped from the scene.