December 29, 2012
Iftikhar terms it a postive symptom
Ihsan Dawar & Farooq MehsudPESHAWAR: Banned outfit TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud said they were ready to come to the table with the government but not to be disarmed. He said this in a video of 40 minutes duration released on Thursday where he himself, his deputy Wali-ur-Rehman and on one occasion TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan could be seen.
An unidentified man could also be seen in the video putting questions on the TTP chief.
Replying to a query, TTP chief said he and his fellow Taliban accepted the offer of the government to come to negotiations.
"We favor dialogue but it is just a joke to ask us to be disarmed," Hakimullah said, adding it was not TTP rather the government had violated several times peace truces with TTP and Taliban.
He declared that Wali-ur-Rehman, the deputy chief of TTP and TTP chief of South Waziristan was like his brother and the reports about their differences were spread by western media and US agents.
He went on to say that Afghani Taliban and TTP were the same and they had sympathies for Al-Qaeda.
"It was TTP who revenged the death of Osama in the shape of attacks over Mehran Base and on FC troops at Shabqadar after his assassination," TTP chief said while commenting on their relations with Al-Qaeda.
He also termed democracy as a system quite un-Islamic and said they only believed in Islamic Sharia.
"We have no sympathies with any of the political parties but ANP, MQM and PPP are on our hit list as they are serving the cause of USA," he lamented.
He said they targeted Bilour as he was staunch opponent of TTP, saying that they would further target high profile leaders of these parties.
Hakim also condemned Pakistan and India for violating Kashmiris right of self-determination and said both the countries were abusing Kashmiris.
"Kashmiris are our brothers and if they need our help we would come to help them anytime," he said.
He also criticized media for showing bias in covering their news.
"We are not given due coverage in the media but we still have soft corner for media," TTP chief said, adding, some of the media organizations were pro-western.
He also in his video bitterly flayed presidents Zardari and Karzai and said they both were US agents.
The video of TTP chief came to the fore when TTP claimed responsibility for three major incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the last two weeks. It is also pertinent to mention here that the government had offered negotiations to TTP a few days back after the assassination of KP Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour in a suicide attack.
Meanwhile, KP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar while commenting on the video termed it as a positive sign and said the government wanted to bring an end to the ongoing bloodshed on the soil of Pukhtuns.
"We don't say they should throw their arms rather we want them to leave the path of violence," Mian Iftikhar said, adding, Pukhtuns could not be forced to lay down their arms.
He said the government was always serious in the dialogue process but Taliban had always violated the treaties between them and the government.
