Pakistan's Military Brass Discusses Ongoing Peace Talks With Tehreek-I-Taliban Pakistan

Pakistan's top military brass has discussed the ongoing peace talks with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) outfit, according to a media report on Saturday.

It was the first time that such a meeting involving all the armed forces has been held over the matter, as these talks are led by the Army to prevent further terror attacks in the country by the militant group. The Army-led talks have assumed a public profile with briefings for political leaders and the Parliamentary Committee on National Security on the issue by the army top brass, the Dawn newspaper reported.

The national security meeting chaired by Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) Gen Nadeem Raza was held on Friday.

It was attended by all three services chiefs — Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi and Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu, ISI Director General Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum, Peshawar Corps Commander Lt Gen Faiz Hamid, and other senior officials.

The forum was given a detailed briefing on the national security situation specific to Western border, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, the media wing of the Army said about the meeting.

"Fast-paced developments in the realm of strategic and conventional policies, the importance of peace in Afghanistan for sustainable development in the region and the operational preparedness of the armed forces were also discussed," the Pakistan Army said.

The participants, the Army said, resolved to respond to "entire spectrum of threats" in accordance with the "comprehensive security strategy".

The military leadership had told the political leadership at the earlier briefings that it wanted to give peace a chance, but would respond with full force if the TTP did not abide by the agreement that may be eventually concluded.

Talks with the TTP have been going on since last year but so far no major breakthrough has been announced by either side.

In  May, reports said that Pakistani government and TTP have indefinitely extended a ceasefire. 

The TTP was founded in 2007 and it's separate from the Afghan Taliban. The US National Counterterrorism Center notes that the TTP was formed to unify opposition against the Pakistani military. 

"TTP's stated objectives are the expulsion of Islamabad's influence in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in Pakistan, the implementation of a strict interpretation of sharia throughout Pakistan, and the expulsion of Coalition troops from Afghanistan," noted The US National Counterterrorism Center. 

Pakistani authorities are asking for the dissolution of the terrorist organisation, laying of arms, and respect for the Constitution, whereas the TTP is seeking withdrawal of security forces from the erstwhile tribal areas, annulment of the 2018 merger of tribal agencies with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the release of its fighters, and compensation for the damage it suffered.

Earlier in May, a United Nations (UN) report called TTP a persistent threat to Pakistan's security and has termed chances of peace in the ongoing talks as bleak.

The UN report observed that as compared to other foreign militant groups, TTP was the biggest beneficiary of last year’s Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and used this opportunity for conducting attacks and operations in Pakistan.

"The TTP also continues to exist as a stand-alone force, rather than feeling pressure to merge its fighters into Afghan Taliban units, as is the prospect for most foreign terrorist fighters," it further added.

According to the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies database, the TTP this year carried out nearly 46 attacks, mostly against security forces, in which 79 people were killed. 

(With PTI inputs)