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Pakistani government to open preliminary talks with the Taliban

4 February 2014, 08:19

In its most ambitious step yet to address Pakistan's most potent domestic threat, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government plans to hold preliminary talks Tuesday with representatives of the Pakistani Taliban. The meeting is described as an introductory chat with the Islamist militant group, which is responsible for a decade-long insurgency that has claimed more than 45,000 lives. If the talks are unsuccessful, Sharif has signaled that he might order a military offensive to regain control of tribal areas that are effectively under Taliban control.

Representatives from both camps confirmed Tuesday's meeting. But many analysts doubt that a peace deal can be reached, citing the insurgent group's violent history, decentralized command structure and harsh ideology.

Some Pakistani Taliban officials have circulated 10 demands they want to pursue in the talks, including a ban on women appearing in public in jeans or without head scarves, the release of all Taliban prisoners, immunity for the group's commanders, the establishment of Islamic courts, a complete withdrawal of the Pakistan army from tribal areas and compensation for the victims of US drone strikes.

The list has shocked Pakistan's political and cultural elite.

"If this is true, it will not be acceptable to very many people in Pakistan," Khalid Naeem Lodhi, a former Pakistan army general, said of the demands.

The Taliban is increasingly splintered, and the group's chief spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid, said any information about demands is premature.

"We have not yet put forward any conditions or demands for the talks," Shahid said in a phone interview. "If there is a list of demands in the media, that is not ours but may be someone else's."

Sharif, who returned as prime minister in June after two previous terms in the 1990s, has made a negotiated settlement with the Pakistani Taliban a chief priority.

The Pakistani Taliban formed in 2008 in the aftermath of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan. It claims to be independent of the Afghan Taliban, but the two groups are thought to coordinate activities. Both organizations seek to replace their respective governments.

Voice of Russia, Washington Post

Source: http://voiceofrussia.com/2014_02_04/Pakistani-government-to- open-preliminary-talks-with-the-Taliban-8669/