Al Jazeera: Pakistani government and Taliban hold talks

Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2014/02/pakistani-government-taliban-begin-talks-201426115523340140.html

Pakistani government and Taliban hold talks

The first formal meeting between the Pakistani government and a Taliban-nominated team is described as "cordial". Last updated: 06 Feb 2014 18:42

A long-awaited first round of peace talks between the Pakistani Taliban and the government has been held in Islamabad after numerous delays and growing doubt over the chance of their success. The two sides met on Thursday for a preliminary meeting likely to chart a "road map" for future discussions, amid deep scepticism over whether dialogue can yield a lasting peace deal. The talks will resume on Friday. Pakistani Taliban fighters have been battling for years to topple the central government and establish Islamic rule, but Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif believes the movement is now ready to find a negotiated settlement and stop the fighting. In a statement after the meeting, which lasted over three hours, the two sides stressed their commitment to dialogue. "Both committees concluded that all sides should refrain from any act that could damage the talks," it said. "Both condemn recent acts of violence in Pakistan, saying such efforts should not sabotage the talks." Irfan Siddiqui, a government negotiator picked by Sharif, sent a text message from the meeting to the Reuters news agency, describing the atmosphere as "cordial and friendly". The peace initiative, which Sharif announced just as many were anticipating a major military offensive on Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) strongholds in the North Waziristan tribal area, got off to a chaotic start earlier this week. The government delegation missed the planned opening meeting on Tuesday saying they were unsure of who was representing the TTP at the talks and what powers they had been given. Fragile security Underlining the fragile security situation, a suicide bomber on Tuesday killed eight people in a sectarian attack against minority Shia Muslims in the northwestern city of Peshawar, just hours after the abortive start to the talks. The main TTP spokesman denied they were behind the blast but a commander for the group in Peshawar told the AFP news agency his men were responsible, saying no ceasefire had been announced. Stability in nuclear-armed Pakistan is seen as important to neighbouring Afghanistan, where US-led NATO troops are pulling out after more than a decade of war. Washington has said it is watching the talks closely. It has long been pushing Pakistan to take action against armed groups using the tribal areas as a base to attack NATO forces across the border. One of the TTP's negotiating team, Maulana Abdul Aziz, said on Wednesday that there was no chance of peace unless the government agreed to the armed group's demand for Islamic law to be imposed throughout Pakistan. The government has insisted that Pakistan's constitution must remain paramount. 422

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

BBC: Who's who in the Pakistan-Taliban peace talks?

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26072034



6 February 2014 Last updated at 11:01 ET

 

Who's who in the Pakistan-Taliban peace talks?

Government negotiator Irfan Siddiqui (L) and Taliban representative Maulana Sami ul-Haq

The men charting the "roadmap" for peace talks are well-known figures in Pakistani politics, media and religious life.

Government-nominated team

Chief negotiator Irfan Siddiqui is the special assistant to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on national affairs. A renowned journalist and columnist for the top-selling Urdu newspaper Daily Jang, Mr Siddiqui is well-known for his conservative views and is a strong critic of the US-led war in Afghanistan. On a number of occasions he has voiced support for the Taliban insurgency against US forces in Afghanistan.

Rahimullah Yusufzai is a political and security analyst and an expert on the Taliban, Afghanistan and Pakistan's north-west tribal region. Based in the city of Peshawar close to the Afghan border, he has been has been covering the Afghan conflict since the Soviet invasion in 1979 and interviewed Osama Bin Laden and the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar. He is the editor of The News daily in Peshawar, and has also been a correspondent for Time magazine and the BBC.

Rustam Shah Mohmand used to be Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan and is a senior member of the Tehrik-i-Insaaf party led by former cricketer Imran Khan. Mr Mohmand is a specialist on Afghan affairs and a renowned security analyst. He was Pakistan's chief commissioner for refugees for about 10 years.

Major Mohammad Amir is a former official of the ISI intelligence service who once gave training and logistics to the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Maj Shah belongs to a religious family. His father founded a seminary which preaches the hardline Deobandi and Wahhabi strain of Sunni Islam. The Pakistan Taliban chief Maulana Fazlullah received his religious education at the school.

Taliban-nominated team

Taliban team (L-R): Professor Ibrahim Khan, Maulana Sami ul-Haq and Maulana Abdul Aziz

Maulana Sami ul-Haq, dubbed the "father of the Taliban" by the media, is an influential Pakistani cleric and politician whose teaching are thought to have influenced the Taliban movement. Maulana Haq is the director of one of the biggest Pakistani madrassas, Darul Uloom Haqqania, which has been seen as the incubator for radical fighters during the early 1990s. Maulana Haq once described the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar as one of his best students and an "angel-like human being". He leads a faction of the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam (Party of Islamic clergy) and was twice elected to Pakistan's senate.

Cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz is a staunch advocate of enforcing Sharia (Islamic law) in Pakistan. He was the prayer leader of the controversial Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad, which was the site of a military siege in 2007 during former President Pervez Musharraf's rule. Maulana Aziz was captured during the operation when he tried to flee the mosque disguised in a burka. He was released in 2009 after 21 months in detention. He has issued numerous edicts declaring music, films and photographs of women to be moral evils.

Ibrahim Khan is a former senator from the tribal region of Bannu. He is the head of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial chapter of the Islamist political party Jamaat-i-Islami, which is a vocal supporter of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The party recently caused controversy when it called the Pakistan Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US drone strike, a martyr.