Cease-Fire Between Pakistan, Banned Extremist Group TTP Begins
By RFE/RL November 09, 2021
A temporary "complete cease-fire" between Pakistan and the banned Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has gone into force.
The one-month deal with the TTP, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, went into effect on November 9, just hours after it was announced. Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had said talks with the TTP were ongoing and the cease-fire could be extended depending on the progress of talks.
"The talks will focus on state sovereignty, national security, peace, social and economic stability in the areas concerned," Chaudhry said on November 8.
Chaudhry added that Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers played a role in facilitating the talks. The TTP is a separate militant group from the Afghan Taliban, which toppled the Western-backed government in Kabul in mid-August.
However, Pakistan's militant groups are often interlinked with those across the border in Afghanistan and follow the same hard-line Sunni Islam as their Afghan counterparts.
The development comes a little over a month after Prime Minister Imran Khan said the government was holding talks with factions of the Pakistani Taliban to end nearly two decades of conflict.
The TTP is notorious for its attempt to kill Malala Yousafzai, the schoolgirl who went on to win the Nobel Prize for her work promoting girls' education. It has also killed thousands of soldiers and civilians over the years in bombings and suicide attacks.
Among its attacks was a 2014 assault on a military-run school in Peshawar, near the Afghan border, which killed 149 people including 132 children.
With reporting by Reuters, AP, Dawn, dpa, and PTV News
Source: https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/pakistan-tehrik- e-taliban-cease-fire/31552699.html
Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
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