[Dawn] A commander of the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistain has said that his organization has declared a ceasefire to the extent of Mehsud-dominated areas of South Wazoo to build confidence with the government for holding peace talks.(A report by the News Agency that Dare Not be Named news agency quoted a senior commander as saying that the Taliban had declared a ceasefire to encourage nascent peace talks with the government. He said the ceasefire had been in effect for several weeks and was valid throughout the country.)
A close aide to Hakimullah Mehsud, the chief of the banned
...the word
bannedseems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organization, told this correspondent that the TTP had ceased all combat activities in October and had not been attacking security forces in Mehsud-dominated area of South Waziristan, 'following talks with the government'.
"Now it depends on the government's attitude. If security forces reciprocate the Taliban will not carry out attacks," he said, adding that the declaration of ceasefire was a confidence-building measure.
Meanwhile,
...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again...
the military's public relations wing, the ISPR, strongly denied
No, no! Certainly not!
reports about talks with the TTP. It said in a statement that the army was not holding any kind of negotiations with the TTP or its affiliated thug groups.
Such reports are concocted, baseless and unfounded, the ISPR said, adding that any contemplated negotiation/reconciliation process with thug groups had to be done by the government.
Security officials in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar also played down Taliban claims about peace talks and ceasefire and termed it mere "feelers".
On Monday also, the TTP had claimed to be holding negotiations with the government and tribal elders and that some retired
government officials were facilitating the talks.
The situation in Mehsud area, the birthplace of TTP, has been comparatively peaceful over the past two months. However,
the way to a man's heart remains through his stomach...
there have been three attacks on security forces in the area since October 1 which left five soldiers dead and eight maimed.
Pazir Gul adds: A thug commander in North Waziristan has sternly warned local people not to work with military engineers working on a road and other projects in the area.
A pamphlet distributed in Miramshah on Tuesday said the Shura Mujahideen North Waziristan had prohibited securing contracts and other privileges from the military in order to keep tribal people away from its influence.
It said the army had started building Bannu-Ghulam Khan Road, but local people would neither work on the project nor provide construction machinery. The pamphlet said that Mujahideen would not be responsible for security of these people.
Kalbe Ali adds from Islamabad: Interior Minister Rehman Malik
Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Näwaz Shärif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men.
welcomed the Taliban's ceasefire offer and said the government also had received the offer. "However,
the way to a man's heart remains through his stomach...
any peace talks with the Taliban are subject to disarming themselves," he added.
Talking to newsmen after inaugurating 50 Mobile Registration Vans at the National Database and Registration Authority, the minister said the government also had made a talks offer to the Taliban but there had not been any progress so far.