The TTP has broken the truce and issued orders for terrorist assaults across Pakistan.
The outlawed terrorist organisation places the blame for ongoing attacks on them on the army and intelligence agencies.
In a statement released on Monday, the outlawed terrorist organisation known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced that they have terminated a ceasefire that had been agreed upon with the federal government in June. The TTP also stated that they have given orders to their militants to stage terrorist attacks across the country.
Since its inception in 2007, the TTP has been responsible for hundreds of attacks, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people. Although it is a distinct organisation from the Taliban in Afghanistan, the TTP adheres to a fundamentalist ideology.
After Afghanistan’s new Taliban leadership took a key role in brokering peace talks, the government and the TTP had agreed to a truce early this year, but negotiations made little headway, and there were numerous breaches of the truce.
The terrorist organisation reportedly refused to back down from its demand for the reversal of the merger of the former province of Fata with the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which led to the talks reaching a stalemate, as reported by the Express Tribune.
Read more to find out whether militants have moved from Swat to Lakki Marwat.
There has also been a standstill about the question of whether or not the TTP will lay down their weapons in the event of a peace settlement, which would provide them the opportunity to go back to their native land.
According to sources who are aware with the issue, there had been a number of talks between the two parties in recent weeks in an effort to break the impasse. However, there has not been any breakthrough as of yet.
In July, a group of ulema led by Mufti Taqi Usmani travelled to Kabul with the intention of moving the process along to a more advanced stage. The trip that the party of scholars took was planned with the intention of utilising the good offices of the religious clerics in an effort to convince the TTP to abandon their demand for the merger of Fata and other contentious topics.
The leadership of the TTP, on the other hand, did not give any kind of assurance that they would lay down their arms and return to Pakistan, despite the pressure from the Ulema.
The Taliban in Pakistan (TTP) said in their statement, “We… have showed our continuous patience in order to ensure that the negotiating process is not derailed.”
“However, the military and intelligence services do not stop and continue the attacks; thus, now our retaliation attacks will also begin across the country.”
The TTP asserted that there have been ongoing operations against its militants by the security forces, and that these actions have not been stopped despite the fact that it has demonstrated “patience.”
The statement exhorted its terrorists to carry out their mission “whenever you get an opportunity to attack, please proceed.”
In October of the previous year, Pakistan initiated discussions with the TTP in response to a request by the Afghan Taliban to search for a political solution to the problem.
Also see: TTP demands that a politician pay a ransom of to Rs1.2 million
The first contacts resulted to a temporary ceasefire between the two parties in November that lasted for one month; nevertheless, the truce was only able to last for a short period of time since disagreements soon surfaced.
The TTP advocated for the freedom of inmates, including some hard-core members who had participated in terrorist activities. Although Pakistan did release certain TTP members, the process was unable to move further because of this.
The failure of the talks led to an increase in the number of terrorist strikes carried out by the TTP over the border. During the month of April, a number of terrorist strikes across the border claimed the lives of twenty-four members of Pakistan’s security forces. The TTP recorded several of their own operations, and in some of those strikes, the terrorists used advanced weapons.
As the number of attacks rose, Pakistan responded by conducting airstrikes across the border, aiming their fire towards the TTP’s hiding places. In another unprecedented measure, the government of Pakistan issued a harsh warning to the Taliban in Afghanistan, urging them to prevent their country’s territory from being used against the neighbouring country.
The warning and the air strikes combined to convince the Afghan Taliban to once again bring the TTP to the negotiating table. The resumption of discussions served as the mediator for the ceasefire, and both parties agreed to move the process further.
During a briefing for members of parliament that was held behind closed doors, the military leadership stated that the fundamental motivation behind Pakistan’s efforts to negotiate a peace settlement with the TTP was the fear of TTP fighters joining Da’ish.
Islamabad is concerned that the number of threats to Pakistan’s national security would increase if the TTP or any of its offshoot groups joined Daesh. In addition, Pakistan is concerned that other countries, notably India, would take advantage of the situation if it continues.
Pakistan had high hopes that a peace pact with the TTP or certain splinter elements of the TTP would bring about a reduction in the effectiveness of the terrorist network. In addition, because the Afghan Taliban were unwilling to take any action against the TTP, Pakistan gave the peace process another chance.
According to the view of the Pakistani authorities, the talks were not moving forward in a productive manner, and Pakistan was prepared for any possibility.
The TTP’s adamant opposition to the Fata reforms remained the stumbling block in the negotiations. Interlocutors from Pakistan had made it abundantly apparent to the TTP that the merger of FATA and K-P was the product of a consensus reached by members of both political parties and that it was implemented through an amendment to the constitution.
Parliament was given the assurance by the military, which is leading the negotiations with the TTP, that any peace settlement reached with the terrorist organisation will be in complete and total accordance with the Constitution.
Analyst Saad Khan, a retired brigadier based in Peshawar, minimised the significance of the TTP statement by claiming that the truce was seldom enforced anyway.
He told AFP that the Afghan Taliban have “guaranteed the whole world” that they will not allow their territory to be used against any other country. “The Afghan Taliban have assured the whole world…”
“It is vital to commence serious conversations with the Afghan Taliban on this problem and make them aware of the importance of the matter,” the author writes. “It is also important to make them aware of the seriousness of the matter.”
