| Such insight! Such perspicacity! |
Talking to Dawn, Mr Siddiqui, who is coordinator of the government committee, said: "The two sides have expressed satisfaction over the progress so far made towards bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table and in the next round of talks more concrete steps will be discussed."
A formal meeting between the two committees will be held in a couple of days.
Another member of the government committee, requesting anonymity, said the leaders of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) had agreed to hold talks within the parameters of the constitution and within a limited timeframe -- two important conditions the government had set for dialogue with the hard boys.
However,
those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things...
he said continuous kabooms, particularly in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
and 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...
, weren't taken well and were considered to have the potential to spoil the grinding of the peace processor.
"This was conveyed to the Taliban negotiating team during the meeting on Tuesday and they agreed that such negative events could disrupt the talks."
The two committees met at the residence of retired Maj Amir Khan, a government committee member. Initially, the meeting was kept secret but somehow the media got the wind of it and, as a result, a statement was issued by the press information department.
"The TTP high-ups have given a positive response to the talks offer made by the government," it said.
"The government committee has termed the report given by the Taliban team after their meeting with the TTP Shura in North
Wazoo satisfactory and decided to hold a second, more comprehensive formal meeting in which all issues concerning dialogue will be discussed."When asked if the Taliban had come up with some concrete proposal to take the talks to the next level, Mr Siddiqui said a good sign was that they had agreed to hold further negotiations with the government with an open mind in accordance with the conditions laid down by the government peace team.
After the meeting, the government committee straightaway drove to the Prime Minister Office where Mr Siddiqui, Maj Amir and Rustam Shah briefed him on their talks with the Taliban negotiators.
Rahimullah Yousufzai, the fourth member of the committee, didn't attend the meeting because he was abroad.
This was the second meeting of the government team with the prime minister in as many days.
Mr Siddiqui said the prime minister was informed about the TTP's response to the conditions which the government had presented.
"The meeting was important because the next phase of talks will be important in terms of concrete proposals to be taken up by the two committees."
An official said that although the TTP had agreed to go ahead with the talks within the scope of the constitution, they wanted confidence-building measures in the form of release of their prisoners, withdrawal of army from certain positions in North Waziristan and a complete ceasefire, which weren't small demands to begin with.
He said the prime minister had underlined that it would be difficult for the government to offer them something concrete until the TTP and its affiliates stopped killing innocent people.
Mr Siddiqui agreed that even if the TTP had distanced itself from the recent bombings in Peshawar, such incidents couldn't be ignored when the basic purpose of the whole exercise was to bring peace. "We have conveyed our concern in this regard."
Maulana Samiul Haq
...the
Godfather of the Taliban,leader of his own faction of the JUI. Known as
Mullah Sandwichfor his habit of having two young boys at a time...
, chief of the TTP committee, told news hounds that the first tangible goal for the two committees was a formal ceasefire to create an atmosphere of peace for the success of talks.
He predicted 'good news' from North Waziristan in coming days.