Says talks only to take place if TTP lays down arms, accepts constitution
\n ISLAMABAD
\nPakistan will continue efforts to hold peace talks with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) but only on the condition that the insurgents lay down their arms first, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Wednesday.
\n\u201cEfforts will and are being carried out to bring the TTP to the (negotiation) table,\u201d Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah told reporters at a press conference in Islamabad. \u201cBut the primary condition (for talks with TTP) is that they give up their arms and accept the law and the constitution,\u201d he said.
\nSanaulah said that at the meeting of the National Security Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif earlier this week, it was decided that there would be zero tolerance for terrorism in Pakistan. \u201cThere is no mixed message. There are no \u2018good\u2019 or \u2018bad\u2019 terrorists. Anyone involved in terrorism is a terrorist. There is no question of them being red, white, or black,\u201d he added.
\nHe said that, from January to December 2022, 67 per cent of terrorism incidents took place in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, 31 per cent in Balochistan, and the rest in Punjab and Balochistan.
\nHe said that it was further decided that training and support would be given to counter-terrorism departments from all provinces, especially Balochistan and K-P so that they are able to more effectively control terrorism.
\nHe said that it was further discussed to put into place a coordinated structure of the CTD at the federal level \u2014 a National Counter-Terrorism Department \u2014 so that counter-terrorism efforts could be better coordinated between the four provinces and Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
\nThe interior minister\u2019s comments come as Pakistan faces an uptick in terrorist attacks, with the outlawed TTP using its safe havens in Afghanistan as a springboard for its new terror campaign.
\nSanaullah, who believes the TTP has between 7,000 and 10,000 foot soldiers, warned in a recent TV interview last week that Pakistani forces could target the TTP sanctuaries in Afghanistan\u2019s border regions, if Kabul did not listen to requests for action against them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Says talks only to take place if TTP lays down arms, accepts constitution ISLAMABAD Pakistan will continue efforts to hold peace talks with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) but only on the condition that the insurgents lay down their arms first, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Wednesday. \u201cEfforts will and are being carried out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1446],"class_list":{"0":"post-305504","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-rana-sanaullah"},"yoast_head":"\n