| Talks with Maulana Sufi Muhammad will not help the NWFP government bring peace to the restive Swat district, the Taliban said on Saturday. Self-proclaimed vice chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Maulvi Faqir Muhammad and purported TTP spokesman Maulvi Omar told reporters that the government should hold talks with Mullah Fazlullah instead of Sufi Muhammad, the chief of the banned Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TNSM). The TTP is a relatively new militant organisation. The two Taliban leaders said that dialogue had been suspended with the government. However, the ceasefire is still intact. They said Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali Khan seemed helpless to hold talks with the Taliban, and blamed secret hands for creating differences between the government and Taliban. Separately, speaking at a function at the Peshawar Press Club, NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haidar Khan Hoti also said “some hidden elements were trying to derail the peace process initiated by the government”. |