‘Taliban Shura has made no demands from govt’

The News Wednesday, September 18, 2013 From Print Edition RAWALPINDI: Former MNA Javed Ibrahim Piracha has said that the Taliban’s Central Majlis-e-Shoora has made no demand from the Pakistan government and news appearing in this regard are nothing but rumours. Taliban’s Central Majlis-e-Shoora has been in session for many days for consultations on a ceasefire prior to talks with Pakistan government. He was hopeful that the decision of the Shoora would be in consonance with the expectations of the people. The army of today is better than the one yesterday that sold our own people for dollars. This is mere propaganda that Taliban are against female education. He expressed these views while talking to Hamid Mir, the host of Geo News programme ‘Capital Talk’. Others who took part in discussion on the topic: ‘What Is the Future of Govt-Taliban Dialogue?’ were former ambassador Zafar Hilali, intellectual and columnist Mohammad Hanif, intellectual and analyst Ghazi Salahuddin Ahmad, and Aqeel Yousafzai from Peshawar. Javed Ibrahim hoped that talks would be held and would be successful. He said that he was not the spokesman or representative of Taliban but he could say that the powerful commanders of Dir and Bajaur have not accepted the responsibility for the upper Dir killings. “I can prove that in spite of written agreements Taliban were deceived. Superior judiciary should take cognizance of the breach of and expose hands sabotaging talks. I have the attorney of Sipahe Sahaba, Lashkare Jhangvi, Tehreeke Aalmi, Malik Ishaq Group, and the governments of Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia, to get the prisoners of different groups released, and in this very connection I am collecting particulars of prisoners from Adiala, Lahore and other jails and they will play a crucial role in the proposed talks.” Zafar Hilali said that if Taliban are demanding release of prisoners and withdrawal of forces from Fata which clearly shows that they are not holding unconditional talks. The territory in their possession will remain theirs. He said, “So far ten agreements have been concluded with Taliban but they never ceased fire. A demand of ceasefire by the government reflects its weakness. Peace is in no way in the interest of Taliban. The things they are adept in are: to fire a gun, to slaughter; and to kill.” Zafar Hilali further said that they provided shelter to them, gave them finances, trained them, armed them but all of a sudden they started attacking their own people. Mohammad Hanif said, “The Upper Dir incident is a big upset for the army. If they have killed our 40,000 people, the matter cannot be solved by killing 40,000 of their men in retaliation. In any case solution to the problem can come only through talks. Many Taliban prisoners openly declare that if and when released they would do whatever they had been doing so far. If this thinking persists, the war against terrorism can go on for another ten years. Our misfortune is that there are Muslims on both sides and both are convinced that they are on the right. We will ultimately have to select one way: dead bodies or dialogue.” Ghazi Salahuddin said, “The real issue is the mindset of Taliban. If they want the support of the common man, they should come forward in the shape of a political party. It is beyond comprehension why arms are their only argument. Media is living in a realm of terror. There is no mention at all of the all-pervading sectarian terrorism in the whole of APC. It looks as if talks with Taliban will not succeed.” Aqeel Yousafzai said, “The most extremist group of all is the one led by Hakimullah Mehsud who is not prepared to hold talks. The day the APC was held the throats of a number of FC personnel were cut. They seem to pressurise the government through such tactics. Sources say that the government paid a heavy amount for the freedom of its kidnapped persons. This has boosted the morale of Taliban”.