Taliban announces ceasefire for one month. Government circles take announcement as “Taliban New Strategy”
PESHAWAR: The Pakistani Taliban has agreed on ceasefire the government for one month, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said on Saturday.
However, the government members are claiming that that Taliban wants to stop successful actions of Pakistan army against them and wants to take time to build their saturated groups within this time of ceasefire.
Shahid said that all groups of the TTP should respect ceasefire. He said that the decision was taken by the TTP leadership after consultation with members of the Taliban committee for peace talks.
The TTP spokesman said that peace talks with the government was initiated with honest intentions and seriousness. He said that a positive response was received by the Taliban committee from the government over elimination of the deadlock in talks and announcement of ceasefire. He further said that assurances were provided to the Taliban over implementation of their recommendations.
The TTP spokesman said that that they are hopeful that the government will consider their decision positively and will also stop military operation.
Meanwhile, the coordinator of the government negotiating team Irfan Siddiqui appreciated ceasefire announcement from the TTP, saying that it is a positive development. He said that this is a sort of breakthrough in seventeen-day dialogue process.
Irfan Siddiqui said that we will wait for formal communication on the subject from the TTP and review it objectively. He said that the ceasefire would help evolve dialogue process successfully.
Moreover, he said that both the committees played a pivotal role during dialogue and peace process in the country.
It is pertinent to mention that the terror outfit on February 26 had rejected the government’s call for an unconditional ceasefire.
“If this is what we have to do, we would have done it 10 years ago,” TTP spokesman had said. “It is the government which has waged a war against us and it is for the government to end it now. Let the government hold fire and we shall follow suit.”
