No talks with Pakistani Taliban as demands impossible to accept — interior minister

Pakistan's Federal Interior Minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed addresses a press briefing in Islamabad, Pakistan on February 2, 2022. (Screengrab)

• Interior minister said the group increased attacks across the country over the past couple of weeks 
• TTP declared an end to a month-long cease-fire in December, accusing the government of breaching terms 

ISLAMABAD: The government is not in talks with the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), as the militant group’s demands are impossible to accept, Pakistan’s interior minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Wednesday.
The TTP, which is a separate movement from the Afghan Taliban, has fought for years to overthrow the government in Islamabad and rule with its own brand of Islamic law. In December, the group declared an end to a month-long cease-fire, accusing the Pakistan government of breaching terms including a prisoner release agreement and the formation of negotiating committees.
Last month, the head of the Pakistan army’s media wing said armed operations against the group had been relaunched.
“[The government] is not holding talks with the TTP at the moment,” Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid told reporters. “They are making demands that are not possible for any elected government, representing the people, to accept.”
The minister said the group had increased attacks across the country over the past couple of weeks, and security forces had obtained intelligence about their operations after killing two of its members after an attack in Islamabad last month.
Best known in the West for attempting to kill Malala Yousafzai, the schoolgirl who went on to win the Nobel Prize for her work promoting girls’ education, the TTP has killed thousands of military personnel and civilians over the years in bombings and suicide attacks.
Among its attacks was a 2014 assault on a military-run school in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which killed 149 people, including 132 children.
The United Nations has designated the TTP as a terrorist organization.
Earlier this week, Rashid said that as militant attacks had increased across the country, the government was doing everything to counter the emerging threats.
Ten Pakistani soldiers were killed after a check post was targeted by militants in Balochistan last week. The country has also witnessed similar attacks against police personnel in other areas.
A bomb blast killed several people in a crowded market in Lahore last month, while a Christian priest was shot dead in Peshawar by unknown assailants on Sunday.