Taliban must lay down arms before talks – Pakistani govt.
17:05 18/10/2011 NEW DELHI, October 18 (RIA Novosti) - Pakistan will agree on peace talks with Taliban militants only if they lay down their arms first, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Tuesday.
“The minimum agenda is that they give up arms and come forward and then there will be talks,” Pakistani Dawn News television cited Malik as saying.
“But if they think they will keep Kalashnikovs in their hands and also hold talks, that will not happen,” Malik said.
The Taliban Movement of Pakistan (TTP) announced its presence in the South East Asian state in 2007 when a group of Islamists barricaded themselves in the Red Mosque in Islamabad and openly called for the overthrow of the Pakistani government, led by President Pervez Musharraf.
The militants have been waging a campaign of attacks including suicide bombings across the country ever since. Several army offensives against the TTP strongholds on the Afghan border have failed to weaken its campaign.
According to Pakistani officials, over 4,500 people have been killed in terrorist attacks in the past three years.
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