Pakistan may attack if peace talks fail: Minister
Iran Press TV
Fri Mar 7, 2014 3:22PM GMT
Pakistan's defense minister has threatened to launch a military attack against Taliban militants if so-called peace talks fail to bring an end to the militancy over the past years.
"Talks are top priority even today to bring peace in the country," Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said during a television interview on Thursday.
"But if there is no advancement in talks and they fail to fulfill the objective, we can go for a military operation," Asif noted, adding, "we will not just take it lying down. If we are attacked, the state is attacked, civilians are attacked, the paramilitary or military personal are attacked, we will retaliate. We will retaliate in kind.'
The statements came amid a meeting between Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) over future strategies to carry forward the peace talks.
Representatives of both the government and the TTP also met on Wednesday for the first time in three weeks.
The Pakistani government has resumed stalled peace talks with pro-Taliban militants to find a way to end the militancy that has claimed thousands of lives in the country over the past years.
Last week, the militants announced a month-long ceasefire aimed at resuming talks with the government. In response to the unilaterally-announced truce, Islamabad stopped airstrikes against militant positions in the country's troubled northwestern tribal region.
Pakistan has been gripped by deadly violence since 2001, after Islamabad joined the so-called US war on terror. According to Pakistani authorities, nearly 50,000 people have lost their lives in the conflict.
GMA/AB
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