Pakistan In Talks With Some TTP Groups For 'Reconciliation', Reveals PM Imran

Pakistan In Talks With Some TTP Groups For 'Reconciliation', Reveals PM Imran
Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the Pakistan government is in talks with 'some groups' of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), adding that Pakistan will forgive them and they will become 'normal citizens' if the talks succeed.

The PM added that these negotiations are taking place in Afghanistan. Imran Khan issued these remarks in an interview with Turkish news channel TRT World.

"In fact, some of the Taliban groups actually want to talk to the Pakistan government for reconciliation and peace," he said.

When the interviewer asked if the government was in talks with the TTP, the PM replied, "Well, some of them. There are different groups that form the TTP. So we are in talks with some of them."

When asked what the talks were about, the PM said that the discussions were about the 'reconciliation process'.

The PM was then asked if the Afghan Taliban were helping Pakistan in the process. To this, he said that they are indeed supporting Pakistan in a way that the talks are taking place in Afghanistan. In response to a question about whether he expects a deal to come out of these negotiations, the PM reiterated that he did not believe in 'military solutions'.

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Earlier, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had said that the Pakistani government was ready to pardon members of banned TTP if they assure the state of respecting the Constitution.

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.”

President Dr. Arif Alvi had also said that the 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.”