US drone attack derails peace talks with Taliban

Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told the parliament on Monday that the American drone attack in November derailed the peace process in the country. The Interior Minister said that the contacts with Taliban had been in advanced stage but the drone attack which killed the Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud derailed the process. He said there had written correspondence between the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the government including signed letter from Hakimullah Mehsud. He said the process was sabotaged by killing of TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud in a U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan tribal region on Nov. 1. He said efforts were again made to establish contacts with new TTP leader Mullah Fazlullah who is in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province, but he was non-responsive. The minister said the option of establishing contacts with other groups within and outside the TTP was used and significant success was achieved, but a suicide attack on the security forces in the northwestern Bannu city this month has affected the contacts. Taliban had claimed responsibility. The attack had killed 20 soldiers and injured 30 others. The security forces launched targeted operation against the Taliban militants in North Waziristan. "It is the decisive moment in history of the country and we will have to forge consensus for whatever strategy has to be adopted," the minister said. He told the National Assembly that a national consensus is prerequisite for the success of dialogue with or military operation against militants.