Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Monday announced that a ‘complete ceasefire’ has been agreed between the government and the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) after negotiations.
“Under an agreement, the government of Pakistan and banned Tehreek-i-Taliban [Pakistan] have agreed upon complete ceasefire,” the minister told the media while referring to the interview of Prime Minister Imran Khan with a foreign television, in which he had hinted at these negotiations.
He said the negotiations with the TTP are underway and would be carried out in accordance with the Constitution and law of the land. “Obviously, no government can hold such negotiation, which contravenes the Constitution and law of Pakistan.”
In these negotiations, writ of the state, national security, peace of relevant areas and socio-economic stability would definitely be taken into account.
The minister said that persons affected due to the TTP in different areas would not be ignored during the negotiations. Therefore, they are also being taken into confidence, he added.
He said that ceasefire would be extendable in light of progress of negotiations.
Authorities of Afghanistan’s interim government played the role of a facilitator in these talks, he added.
Fawad said that certainly, it is welcoming to note that after a hiatus, complete peace would eventually return to those areas, which had been affected due to the TTP.
Last month, Prime Minister Imran Khan had said that the government is in talks with some factions of the TTP that are looking at peace and reconciliation with the country.
In an interview with TRT World in Islamabad, the premier had said that some of the groups actually want to talk to the government for reconciliation.
When asked by the interviewer if the government is in talks with the TTP, the PM had said, “Yes, with some of them. There are different groups that form the TTP and some of them want to talk to our government for peace. So, we are in talks with them. It’s a reconciliation process.”
When asked if the government is negotiating with some of those TTP groups to lay down their arms, the premier had responded, “Yes, and then we forgive them and they become normal citizens.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that policies drafted without taking parliament into confidence lack “legitimacy”.
Speaking to the media after a high-level security briefing, Bilawal said that the government cannot take “unilateral decisions” when it comes to the country’s Afghanistan policy, talks with the TTP and agreements made with the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan.
“No policy can be made [regarding] these issues without the approval of Parliament,” he said. “Any policies made without the approval of Parliament will lack legitimacy and will not be successful.”
