Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has said there could be negotiations with the armed group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), known as the Pakistani Taliban, «if it falls under the Constitution,» amid a spike in attacks following the end of the ceasefire.
«If TTP decides to come under the ambit of the Constitution, we could have talks with them,» he said, just a day after ruling out any contact with the group, Pakistan’s Geo TV reported.
Sanaullah stressed that the National Security Committee recently decided that there will be a «zero tolerance» policy against terrorist groups and stressed that «there will be no distinction between good and bad terrorists».
He said that the body has decided that «terrorism will be fought with the full force of the state» and that «the security of Pakistan is non-negotiable and the full might of the state will be maintained in every inch of the territory».
The Pakistani Taliban announced at the end of November the end of the cease-fire agreed with the Pakistani authorities amid contacts being mediated by the Afghan Taliban after their seizure of power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
Pakistan’s National Counter-Terrorism Authority recently claimed that the TTP group expanded its networks during peace talks with the government and added that the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan allowed it to increase its activities in the neighboring country.
The situation has prompted Pakistan to call on the Afghan Taliban, who mediated during contacts for a possible peace deal, to address the upsurge in TTP activities. Islamabad has even threatened cross-border operations, something firmly rejected by Kabul.
In fact, Taliban deputy spokesman Bilal Karimi reiterated Thursday that «the entire territory of the country is controlled by the Islamic Emirate and there is no evidence to prove that there is any action from our country to other countries and their activities,» according to the Afghan television channel Tolo TV.
The U.S. government on Tuesday called on the Taliban to «honor their commitment that Afghan territory will not again be used as a platform for international terrorist attacks.» «This is one of many commitments the Taliban have been unable or unwilling to fulfill,» State Department spokesman Ned Price lamented.
The TTP group, which differs from the Afghan Taliban in organizational matters but follows the same rigorist interpretation of Sunni Islam, brings together more than a dozen Islamist militant groups operating in Pakistan, where they have killed some 70,000 people in two decades of violence.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
