TTP signals for talks Taliban want Nawaz, Fazl, Munawar as guarantors

TTP signals for talks Taliban want Nawaz, Fazl, Munawar as guarantors.... http://www.thefrontierpost.com/article/205568/

February 4, 2013
Ihsan Dawar & Farooq Mehsud

 PESHAWAR: Banned outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has signaled for conditional talks with the federal government which is being considered as a big positive development for the country's law and order situation.
In a newly-released video tape on Sunday, TTP Spokesman Ahsaullah Ahsan said that Taliban were ready to hold talks with the government in spite of the non-seriousness of the government in the dialogue process, he added.
In the video, the TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan and Adnan Rashid could also be seen. Rashid was released from Bannu jail in April last year while two veiled militants having A-K 47 in their hands were standing alert along with the TTP spokesman. The video was in the interview format in which an unidentified man asked queries from Ehsan. Sources told on the condition of anonymity that the video was recorded in Shaktoi area of South Waziristan Agency but it was not confirmed through independent sources.
Ehsan said that discussion with the government was only possible if Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif, chief of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman or Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Ameer Syed Munawar Hasan gave guarantee.
He also appreciated the efforts of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan saying he (Dr Qadeer) had done well for Islam and Pakistan. Dr Abdul Qadeer's name could also be considered for discussion, the spokesman said.
"We do all these for the sake of Islam and Pakistan but it seems that the government is not serious in its attitude regarding talks with TTP", Ehsan blamed, adding, before conducting talks the government should release our fellows arrested in Swat during the peace talks.
Ehsan also demanded release of Molvi Umar and Maulana Mehmood saying that both these leaders were their political heads and they would be part of the peace talks' team.
The TTP spokesman said the abducted VC Ajmal Khan would soon be released as he claimed talks were underway with the government.
He said they would revenge the death of Kasab from India.
"We have become a popular movement and our activists are present everywhere in the Subcontinent", Ehsan claimed.
The escaped TTP leader Adnan Rashid also spoke on the occasion and said if Pakistan army came to the right track, he was ready to join it again.
Ehsan further said that the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) was responsible for the killings of religious scholars in Karachi and warned that the killers would be sternly dealt with.
Ehsan also advised the journalists not to become party in the war rather appealed them to use their pens for the uplift of the virtuous acts.
The TTP spokesman also discarded the rumors of differences between Hakimullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman and said there were no differences between both the top TTP leaders.
Meanwhile, responding to the statement of the TTP spokesman, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information, Mian Iftikhar Hussain said dialogue with terrorists was the top most priority of the government for durable peace in the region.
He said that before starting dialogue process with the terrorists, provincial government would convene all parties' conference with the sole aim to devise a future plan of action in consent with all the political forces.
He said that contacts with all political parties had been completed and excluding one party all had expressed their consent for participation. He hoped that after completion of this process, the Taliban would also form a powerful body for dialogue.
He said that the president, the federal government and the army chief would also be taken on board on this process. He said that the dialogue meant to give a safe passage to the terrorists and bring them into the mainstream of the country.