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India-Pakistan
Taliban leadership divided on extending ceasefire
2014-04-03
[DAWN] Due to prevailing difference of opinion among their ranks, the Pak Taliban have not extended a month-long ceasefire but are still open to pursuing peace talks with the government, a front man for the bully boy movement said Wednesday.

Central front man for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), Shahidullah Shahid said some Taliban leaders had objected to extending the ceasefire, which lasted during the month of March.

"No decision has been made regarding extension in ceasefire," he said, adding that a meeting of the central Shura (council) would soon be held on the matter.

Shahidullah accused the government of arresting more than 120 TTP gunnies and not accepting any of their demands during the month-long ceasefire.

The TTP and the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
are now involved in their second round of peace talks. A first round failed in February after the Taliban bombed a police bus and executed 23 men kidnapped from a government paramilitary force.

The government then refused to hold further talks until the Taliban announced a ceasefire on March 1.

Government negotiators were not available Wednesday to comment on whether talks would continue.

Taliban negotiators have demanded the government release 800 prisoners they describe as innocent family members and withdraw the army from part of the semi-autonomous tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan.

"We gave this list and names of our civilian prisoners as a test case and wanted to see if the government was serious," one commander said. "But we felt that the government is either powerless or not serious in talks."

Ibrahim Khan, a Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
(JI) leader representing the Taliban in the talks, said they had presented their demands on March 29 but had no answer from the government. He did not know if talks would continue without a ceasefire.

Taliban front man Shahid accused the government of continuing to kill Taliban during the ceasefire, especially in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
, the country's largest city. Taliban fighters are so prevalent in some neighbourhoods that law enforcement agencies are sometimes reluctant to enter.

Taliban capo Omar Khalid Khurasani, from the northern Mohmand region on the other hand said that attacks would begin again in Pakistain.

"There would be more attacks in which common people suffer as the government isn't sincere in peace talks," he told Rooters.

Pakistain was not entirely peaceful during the ceasefire. A bully boy group calling itself Ahrarul Hind launched a rare attack in Islamabad, killing at least 11 in a court including a judge.

The Taliban said they were not responsible for the actions of other bully boy groups.
Posted by:Fred

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