2 Pakistani parties to hold talks with Taliban

The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and the religious political party Jamiat Ullema e Islam (JUI-F) have claimed to have worked out a mechanism for holding talks with Pakistani Taliban on Monday. According to media reports, both the political parties would be holding peace talks with Taliban through a "grand peace Jirga" as decided by the All Party Conference (APC) held by JUI-F chief, Maulana Fazl ur Rehman on February 28 in the capital city Islamabad. JUI-F spokesman Jan Achakzai quoted his chief as saying that agreement had been reached between the two parties on the steps to be taken for achieving peace in the country through negotiations with the Pakistani Taliban. Tehreek e Taliban e Pakistan (TTP) had been fighting against the security forces of Pakistan for years in tribal areas and were involved in many militant activities killing a large number of security personnel and civilians in the country. The JUI-F and PML-N have not reached a power sharing formula in the formulation of government but the JUI-F chief said that soon after coming to power, the PML-N government would prepare a "serious plan" for talks with the Taliban after taking all "stakeholders and policy-making institutions" on board. About 30 mainstream political and religious parties had agreed at the APC to negotiate with Taliban through a grand jirga and attended the APC but Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf boycotted it terming it a futile exercise. The JUI-F spokesman said that both the parties had agreed that the grand jirga, constituted at the APC, would be reconstituted and activated for talks with the Taliban. Almost all mainstream political parties backed the jirga but it could not start its work due to general elections and had to wait until the formation of the new government, the JUI-F spokesman further added.