Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that the Pakistani government is ready to pardon members of banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) if they assure the state of respecting the Constitution.
He expressed these views in an interview with The Independent, and a clip of the FM’s remarks was shared by the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan on Twitter. He added that the reports of TTP figures being released from jails following the fall of Kabul at the hands of the Taliban were concerning.
Further, Qureshi said that the new Afghan government may be able to use its influence and talk to the TTP, adding: “if [the TTP] are willing to mend fences and not take the law into their hands and not get involved in terrorist activities and they submit and surrender to the writ of the government and the Constitution of Pakistan, we are even open to giving them a pardon.”
He however added that this would be done as long as they do not begin carrying out terror activities in Pakistan.
Last week, President Dr. Arif Alvi had said the Pakistani government could consider an amnesty for members of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) who are “not involved in crimes” and want to leave the ideology of the TTP and follow the Constitution of Pakistan.
In an interview with Dawn News, President Dr. Arif Alvi cited the Afghan Taliban as claiming that third- or fourth-tier leaders of the TTP have said that they will stay in Afghanistan but “do nothing against Pakistan.”
The President noted that the government of Pakistan will consider an amnesty for such elements in the TTP, provided that they surrender.
