ISLAMABAD: The government has released 12 low-key members of the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from custody, Radio Free Europe and The News reported, citing sources.
Formed in 2007 as an umbrella organisation of various militant groups, the Afghanistan-based TTP is a separate movement from the Afghan Taliban and has fought the state for years until 2014 when a major army offensive drove the group across the porous border into Afghanistan.
However, the group has gradually staged a comeback in the mountainous, tribal regions since late 2019 and considerably increased the frequency of their attacks this year.
In November, following the August victory of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the government and TTP agreed to a one-month ceasefire which may be extended if both sides agree, opening the possibility of a fuller peace accord.
The release of 100 jailed TTP members was one of the group’s preconditions for reaching a permanent cease-fire agreement.
RFE said the 12 inmates — held in the Jandola area of South Waziristan and released Tuesday — had been transferred to the neighbouring Afghanistan province of Paktika where they were handed over to the group.
The group did not include prominent TTP members, the report said, but added that more prisoners are expected to be released in the next few days.
The move came on the eve of the expected end of the month-long truce.
There have been numerous failed attempts to reach peace agreements in the past. The latest talks were opened following the victory of the Afghan Taliban and the two sides have been meeting across the border in Afghanistan, with the aid of Afghan Taliban leaders.
Best known in the West for attempting to kill Malala Yousafzai, the schoolgirl who went on to win the Nobel Prize for her work promoting girls’ education, the TTP has killed thousands of military personnel and civilians over the years in bombings and suicide attacks.
Among its attacks was a 2014 assault on Army Public School in Peshawar, near the border with Afghanistan, which killed 149 people, including 132 children.
