Pakistan wants stable, prosperous Afghanistan: Kaira

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party Information Secretary, Qamar Zaman Kaira said that Pakistan would help Afghanistan to get stabilization but not at stake of its sovereignty.

Talking to a private news channel, he said that Pakistan has serious reservations regarding attack on the forces by the ISAF and Nato on Pak Afghanistan border.

He said Pakistan is a frontline state on war against terror which also victim of terrorists activities.

To a question, Kaira said that “We believe that stable and prosperous Afghanistan is important for a sovereign and prosperous Pakistan”.

Replying to a question about the boycott of Bonn conference he said that, “If Pakistani soldiers, nation and soil are not being trusted, then what kind of relationship the world wants with us, that has to be decided”.

Pakistan will help Afghanistan but, “We have to rethink our terms of engagement with the ISAF and Nato forces, and there should be a clear and visible policy change in that,” he added.

Read more »

Posted in: NATIONAL

Pakistani Taliban confirm peace talks with Islamabad

PESHAWAR: The deputy commander of the Pakistan Taliban, who have been waging a four-year war against the government in Islamabad, confirmed the two sides were in peace talks.

“Our talks are going in the right direction,” Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, the commander of the Pakistani Taliban in the Bajaur tribal agency and the No. 2 commander overall, told Reuters.

“If negotiations succeed and we are able to sign a peace agreement in Bajaur, then the government and the Taliban of other areas such as Swat, Mohmand, Orakzai and South Waziristan tribal region will sign an agreement. Bajaur will be a role model for other areas.”

At the end of September, Pakistan’s government pledged to “give peace a chance” and talk with its homegrown militants.

There was no immediate comment from the administration on whether talks were actually taking place with the militants.

The United States is unlikely to look kindly on peace talks with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which it has labelled a terrorist group.

Past peace pacts with the TTP have failed to bring stability, and merely gave the umbrella group time and space to consolidate, launch fresh attacks and impose their austere version of religion on segments of the population.

Mohammad said Pakistan had released 145 members of the group as a gesture of goodwill, and the militants had pledged a cease-fire.

He heads the TTP faction based in Bajaur, at the northeast end of the Pashtun belt along the border. He is known to be close to Al Qaeda.

Mohammad was believed to have been behind several attacks on Pakistani security forces. The army launched an offensive in Bajaur in August last year and largely cleared the region after months of at times heavy fighting.

Read more »

Posted in: NATIONAL