ISLAMABAD: The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is ready for ceasefire if the government stops the deployment of forces, while the banned outfit has given the authority to its three-member team for negotiations with the government committee regarding making such a decision, media quoted sources as saying on Friday.
The TTP-nominated peace committee includes Jamiat Uleme e Islama – Sami (JUI-S) leader Maulana Samiul Haq and head of the committee, Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz, and Jamaat-i-Islami’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief Professor Muhammad Ibrahim.
The sources said that the Taliban negotiating team had a contact with Qari Shakeel, the head of the nine-member monitoring committee of the TTP, during which the committee was told that a ceasefire can be agreed upon if the government agrees to halt troop deployment.
Moreover, the sources said that the two sides also discussed the issue related to the Taliban militants in government custody as well as those abducted by the TTP.
Shakeel said that the government has 43 senior Taliban leaders and some 800 Taliban members as prisoners, adding that if the government releases Taliban prisoners, the TTP will also release those detained by it, which includes Professor Ajmal, Ali Haider Gilani and Wapda and FC personnel, for their links with the government and security forces.
