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Pro-Taliban rejects talks offer by Pakistani premier

Iran Press TV

Sun Aug 25, 2013 4:39PM GMT

A senior pro-Taliban leader has rejected a recent offer by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to hold peace talks with militant groups operating across the violence-wracked country.

Shahidullah Shahid, a spokesman for the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said in a statement that the militant group would not negotiate with the government in Islamabad.

The top militant leader also accused Premier Sharif of threatening to use force if the Taliban didn't come to a negotiation table.

Shahid is a senior member of a death squad of the militant group that has carried out several terrorist attacks across Pakistan over the past few years.

The remarks by the top militant come days after Premier Sharif called for peace talks with the pro-Taliban militant groups in a televised speech on Monday.

“I would like to take a step forward and invite those elements for dialogue who have unfortunately taken the path of extremism,” Sharif said, adding, “Like every Pakistani, I want to put an end to this bloodshed as soon as possible, whether this is done through mutual understanding at the negotiating table or the use of fully fledged state force.”

Sharif has been an advocate of peace talks with Taliban militants since his election campaign which ended in his May victory.

In May, a Taliban spokesman was quoted as saying that the militants might agree on a truce if Sharif and his party showed seriousness in holding the peace talks.

However, pro-Taliban militants withdrew their offer of peace talks to the new government after a US terror drone killed their deputy chief, Wali-ur-Rahman Mehsud.

Militants have carried out numerous attacks against security forces as well as civilians, and managed to spread their influence in various regions of the country, despite frequent offensives by the Pakistani Army.

Pakistani security forces have launched several operations in the troubled northwest and southwest in a bid to flush out militants from its tribal zone.

Despite the Pakistani government's operations against pro-Taliban militants and associated groups, they have been able to spread their influence in various regions of the country and kill thousands of people.

Thousands of Pakistanis have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks since 2001 when Pakistan entered an alliance with the US on the so-called war on terror, according to local media.

JR/PR