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India-Pakistan
No peace until Pakistan embraces Islamic law: Taleban negotiators
2014-02-06
You'd think that would be done already; every pol in Pak-land proclaims himself (and very occasionally herself) to be the most pious Muslim around. The whole country is based on Islamic law -- just not the Islamic law the Taliban wants.
Negotiators representing Taleban insurgents said on Wednesday there was no chance of peace in Pakistan until the government embraces Islamic Shariah law and US-led forces withdraw completely from neighbouring Afghanistan.

The tough conditions appear to deal a blow to hopes that talks with the Pakistani government could end the Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP) insurgency that has rocked the nuclear-armed country since 2007.

Initial peace talks failed to get under way on Tuesday when the government delegation refused to meet the militantsÂ’ negotiators, citing confusion about the make-up of their team.
And the arms...
The two sides are expected to try to meet again on Thursday or Friday, though no definite arrangements have yet been made.

Washington and Kabul have been deadlocked over a pact known as the Bilateral Security Agreement, which would allow some US troops to stay on in Afghanistan beyond 2014, with Afghan President Hamid Karzai refusing to sign it. Its supporters say the pact is crucial to AfghanistanÂ’s stability after the bulk of Nato forces pull out.

But Maulana Sami-Ul-Haq, the head of the TTP’s three-man talks team, said there could be “no peace” in the region while there were still US troops across the border.

His comments were echoed by his fellow TTP negotiator Maulana Abdul Aziz, who also said the TTPÂ’s long-held commitment to imposing Shariah law across Pakistan was not open to debate.

“Without Shariah law, the Taleban won’t accept (the talks) even one per cent,” he said. “If some factions accept it, then the others won’t accept it.”
And all it takes is one...
There has been scepticism about what the talks could achieve. Local peace deals reached with the militants in the past have quickly fallen apart.
Golly gosh, maybe the skepticism is justified?
“Their real agenda is Shariah,” Aziz said, suggesting that all Pakistan’s secular courts based on the common law system be abolished. “I don’t think the government will accept this but they should, because war isn’t the way forward.”
Posted by:Steve White

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