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ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Monday announced that a complete ceasefire had been reached between the government and the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
“The ceasefire will keep on extending with the progress in the negotiations,” the Information Minister said in a video statement. Chaudhry said authorities in neighbouring Taliban-controlled Afghanistan had facilitated the talks.
Fawad Chaudhry further said no government can undertake any negotiations beyond the limits of the Constitution and law, reiterating that both the government and the TTP have agreed on a complete ceasefire as per the understanding.
The minister said that sovereignty of the state, security, peace in the affected areas, social and economic stability will be kept in view during the talks. “The affected people of these areas will never be ignored and they will be taken into confidence,” he added.
Chaudhry further said that the Afghan interim government has played a facilitative role in these talks. He made it clear that the negotiations with the banned TTP Pakistan were started in line with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s announcement last month.
The announcement comes a little over a month after Prime Minister Imran Khan had stated that the government was in talks with some TTP groups, seeking a reconciliation.
“There are different groups which form the TTP and some of them want to talk to our government for peace. So, we are in talks with them. It’s a reconciliation process,” the premier had said during an interview with TRT World.
Tentative understanding with TTP
Earlier this month, sources familiar with the development claimed that the government had reached a tentative understanding with the TTP to seek a broader peace agreement to end nearly two decades of militancy in the country.
Sources had said the “direct, face-to-face” talks between the two sides being held in Afghanistan’s south-western Khost province for nearly two weeks had resulted in a tentative understanding to declare a countrywide truce, conditional to the release of some TTP foot soldiers as part of confidence-building measures.
It was not immediately clear how many militants in Pakistan’s custody would be allowed to go free, but sources had said the number was not more than two dozen people. “These are foot soldiers, not senior or mid-level commanders,” the sources said.
The chief of the Haqqani network, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is thought to have played the role of mediator. Although there was no official confirmation, reports suggested that the TTP agreed to announce a month-long ceasefire in return for Pakistan releasing dozens of terrorist group’s prisoners.