Leader of the Pakistani Taliban Hakimullah Mehsud on Wednesday said the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) will not accept negotiations with the government through the media.However, he said the Taliban will give full protection to the government Jirga if it came for talks.Hakimullah said Pakistan had initiated the peace talks with the Taliban through the media.
“Pakistan is yet to take practical steps for formal talks with us. We are hearing from the media that the government is negotiating with the Taliban, which in fact is not true. The rulers are not serious in a meaningful dialogue,” the TTP chief said in an interview with the BBC.
Hakimullah said the Taliban were ready to announce a ceasefire if the government helped stop the drone attacks in the tribal areas along the Afghan border.The Taliban sources said the interview was conducted in the tribal areas. The TTP chief said Pakistan was not serious about the peace talks with the militants. He felt that Pakistani rulers were not independent in making their decisions themselves.
“We are independent in making our decisions, but the Pakistani rulers are under pressure from the US to make decisions,” the Taliban leader said.Hakimullah, who narrowly escaped in two US drone strikes in 2009 in South Waziristan, said they had signed peace accords with the government in the past but they could not work due to failure of the Pakistani government.
“The peace accords could not continue for a long time due to drone strikes conducted by the United States in the tribal areas and Pakistani government used to claim those missile strikes,” the TTP chief recalled.
Hakimullah said the TTP had no hand in bomb blasts at the public places. “The aim of carrying out bomb blasts in public places is to defame the Taliban in eyes of the public and reduce their support,” he explained.
He said the Taliban would continue to eliminate the pro-US people in the country.About the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014, the Taliban leader said it would have no effect on the activities of the Pakistani Taliban.
“After the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, we will continue our operations in Pakistan. There were two reasons we launched Jihad against Pakistan. First, it was pro-US and killed Ulema (religious scholars) and destroyed religious schools. The second reason of our war is Pakistan’s secular ruling system,” he argued.
Reuters adds: The TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said the government will have to release all Taliban prisoners, withdraw the army from the tribal areas, and stop US drone strikes for talks.
“Drones really stop us from moving freely in the area,” Shahidullah told a small group of reporters on a recent visit to Waziristan. “But even if our enemies use an atomic bomb, we would not stop our Jihad,” he said.
“Islam doesn’t need democracy. Islam itself is a complete system,” the TTP spokesman said, adding that there had been no direct peace contacts between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s representatives and the Taliban.Taliban officials who escorted Reuters on the trip requested that the exact location of the interview not be revealed.
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