ISLAMABAD, April 16 -- Pakistani Taliban Wednesday said they have decided not to extend ceasefire, the group's spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid said. He, however, said the dialogue process will continue.
The extended ceasefire expired on April 10.
A senior Taliban intermediary Prof. Ibrahim said the group's negotiators will encourage the TTP leadership to continue the ceasefire. He told the media that the Taliban have not stopped the dialogue process.
"The government should clarify as to what obstacles it is facing to take the dialogue process ahead," he said shortly after the Taliban announcement. He urged the government to take steps for bridging the trust gap.
The Taliban had earlier declared a month-long ceasefire on March 1st and later extended it for ten more days. The government had also suspended airstrikes against the Taliban hideouts in Waziristan tribal regions.
The Taliban spokesman accused the government of failing to make any progress on the Taliban's demands.
"The Central Council of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has unanimously decided not to extend the ceasefire," the TTP spokesman said in a statement.
The Taliban spokesman, however, said that the dialogue process will continue with complete “sincerity and seriousness,” that could keep hopes alive for a halt in the attacks.
“The TTP will not be reluctant from to take serious steps if the government makes some progress on our demands,” he said in a detailed statement.
The spokesman said the TTP showed “complete restraint and tolerance” over the ongoing operation with the “root out” code name during the negotiations that caused widespread losses to the Taliban.
“We tried to control our colleagues from any provocation and kept our intermediary informed about the development. We have made it clear to our negotiators that the government’s actions are very harmful for the dialogue process.”
“There had neither been any progress on the Taliban demands for the release of the non-combatant prisoners nor on establishing a peace zone. The government even did not put a pause on the operations against the Taliban,” the TTP spokesman claimed.
The Taliban wanted the government returns some areas in South Waziristan tribal region for the future talks; however, the security forces had opposed the proposal.
The security forces had cleared most of the Mehsud-majority areas after they had launched a major ground and air operation in October 2009. Most of the TTP leaders had later sneaked into the neighbouring North Waziristan.
The TTP spokesman said the ceasefire was expired six days ago however the government had been mysteriously tight lipped about the dialogue process.
“It seems that the real center of power are now active and want to impose decision of their choice on the people,” Shahidullah Shahid said.
He claimed that the Taliban had started dialogue with sincerity and adopted soft attitude during the talks on every phase of the process.
“We took all necessary steps that could provide strong basis for successful dialogue.”
“In spite of differences over the government’s demand for a unilateral ceasefire all the Taliban leadership convinced all unites to declare a month-long ceasefire in the best interests of Islam and the country. We gifted the month long ceasefire to the nation however the government has not made any progress on the TTP’s initial, genuine and just demands.”
He was of the view that the peace zone, release of the non-combatant prisoners and halt to “anti-Taliban operations” had been solid proposals to promote and build trust. “However, the government did not bother even to discuss the demands.”
Giving details of what the TTP spokesman claimed the losses as the result of the operations during the 40-day ceasefire, he alleged the government covertly continued its “root-out” operation that reflects the “non-seriousness” of the government.
“Our more than 50 colleagues, who had been arrested over links with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, were martyred during the 40-day ceasefire,” Shahidullah Shahid went on to say.
“Over 200 innocent people were arrested from different areas for links with the TTP,” he further claimed.
The TTP spokesman said the security forces conducted nearly 100 raids and 25 search operations and “brutal torture of the TTP detainees had also been continued under a plan.”
==
No comments:
Post a Comment