Pakistan and Taliban negotiators call for new peace talk forum

Google – AFP, 6 March 2014

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) committee member and senior religious party

 leader Maulana Sami-ul-Haq (left) holds talks Pakistan chief negotiator Irfan

Siddiqui during a meeting in Akora Khattak, on March 5, 2014 (AFP/File)

Islamabad — Peace negotiators representing the Pakistani government and Taliban insurgents called on Thursday for higher-level talks between the two sides following a breakfast meeting hosted by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Dialogue aimed at ending the Islamists' seven-year insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives resumed on Wednesday following a two-week suspension after militants killed 23 kidnapped soldiers.

The military retaliated with a series of air strikes that it said killed more than 100 militants, and the Taliban last weekend announced a month-long ceasefire.

A Pakistani policeman stands guard outside

 the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House -- where

 negotiations took place between

government officials and Taliban

representatives -- in Islamabad, on

February 6, 2014 (AFP/File,Aamir Qureshi)

But negotiations have so far been conducted through teams of go-betweens, which some observers say has hampered their effectiveness.

"We have asked the prime minister to replace this committee with an effective forum," said government chief negotiator Irfan Siddiqui after Thursday's meeting.

"We believe that in the next phase, sensitive issues and demands will come up and we need to have a mechanism for direct contacts."

Rahimullah Yusufzai, another government negotiator, told AFP: "We have proposed that those who have authority to make decisions should be part of this committee. There should be representatives from the government and the military in the committee."

On the Taliban side, chief negotiator Maulana Sami-ul-Haq said his team was "satisfied with the round of talks this morning with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif".

"It was decided in the meeting that now the time has come to strengthen the committees and empower them more," he added.

- 'Legitimising the Taliban' -

Haq said his team might have to return to the Taliban's base in the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan in a day or two to report back to their leadership.

Observers have criticised the dialogue process for being a step removed from the real decision-makers, but analyst Imtiaz Gul said face-to-face contacts risked giving respectability to a banned militant outfit.

Pakistani policemen check a vehicle

carrying internally displaced civilians --

fleeing from military operations against

Taliban militants in North Waziristan -- as

 it arrives in Bannu, on March 1, 2014 (AFP/

File, Karim Ullah)

"It is a legitimate demand to have direct TTP representation in talks. However if that happens and the government representatives are sitting across the table, this could amount to lending legitimacy to an organisation which the government has proscribed as a terrorist outfit," he told AFP.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is the umbrella movement for the militants.

A statement issued by Sharif's office said he was committed to peace.

"As prime minister it is my constitutional, religious, national, moral and human duty to stop the continuation of fire and blood and give peace to the country and citizens," it said.

The peace talks, which began in February, were a key campaign pledge for Sharif before he was elected to office for a third time last year.

But many analysts are sceptical about their chances for success, given the Taliban's demands for nationwide sharia law and a withdrawal of troops from the lawless tribal zones.

Many regional deals between the military and the Taliban have failed in the past.