Pakistan rules out talks with TTP, urges Afghanistan to take action against militants
Publishing date: 05 April 2024
Published in: Arab News
Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson on Thursday rejected an Afghan minister’s suggestion for Islamabad and the Pakistani Taliban to hold talks, urging Kabul to take action against militant groups operating from its soil.
Afghan Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Nabi Omari on Wednesday urged Pakistan and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to resolve their disputes and start negotiations afresh.
The TTP or Pakistani Taliban have carried out some of the deadliest attacks in Pakistan since 2007. These attacks have surged post-November 2022 after a fragile truce brokered by the Afghan Taliban between Islamabad and TTP broke down.
“I will reiterate what we have said in the past. Pakistan is not holding any talks with a terrorist organization, the TTP,” Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the foreign office spokesperson, told reporters during a weekly press briefing.
“We have no plans to hold these talks with TTP.”
She called on the Afghan government to take action against militant groups and their leadership “for the crimes they are committing and the terrorist incidents they are responsible for in Pakistan.”
Baloch said Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies are in the process of taking action against militant groups, specifically the one that killed five Chinese nationals last week in a suicide attack in northwestern Pakistan.
“At this point, what I can say is that Pakistan remains committed to fight against all terror groups and all forces which have targeted Pakistan and have targeted symbols of Pakistan-China friendship, including the latest attack in Bisham,” she said.
Security experts endorsed the foreign office stance, asserting that Pakistan had no choice but to take strict action against militant outfits like the TTP, particularly in light of the recent killings of Chinese workers.
“Pakistan considers Afghan Taliban’s suggestion to negotiate with the terrorist outfit as evidence of Kabul’s sympathy and support for the TTP,” Syed Muhammad Ali, an Islamabad-based security analyst, told Arab News.
He said this also reflected Kabul’s reluctance to implement the Doha Accord which required the interim Afghan administration to ensure that its territory was not used by militant groups.
Ali noted that Islamabad attributed the recent rise in militant attacks in the country as a direct outcome of Kabul’s decision to extend “hospitality” toward militant outfits in Afghan territory.
He pointed out that Islamabad had repeatedly said that militant violence was a common threat to both Pakistan and Afghanistan, emphasizing the necessity to jointly deal with it.
Another defense analyst, Brig. (r) Dr. Raashid Wali Janjua, said Pakistan would have to fight its way out of the quagmire.
“There is no possibility of engaging in talks with terrorist entities,” he told Arab News.
“However, if such talks were to occur, they would focus solely on one agenda, the TTP renouncing violence, surrendering their weapons, and individuals involved in criminal activities turning themselves in to the authorities for appropriate action as this is the only viable path forward,” he added.
Militancy has soured relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan since August 2021 when the Taliban seized power in Kabul.
Last month, seven Pakistani soldiers, including two army officers, were killed in a militant attack, the Pakistani military said.
The attack led the Pakistani military to carry out rare airstrikes against suspected TTP hideouts inside Afghanistan on March 18, killing eight people. The strikes prompted Afghan forces to fire heavy weapons at Pakistani soldiers along the border.