Ready To Negotiate With Government, Pakistani Taliban Demand Conditions For Release Of Detainees

JAKARTA - The Pakistani Taliban is demanding that the Pakistani government release a number of detainees, as a condition for talks aimed at laying the groundwork for negotiations for a full ceasefire, sources within the group said.

The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-i Taliban Pakistan or TTP and separate from the Afghan Taliban, have conducted two preliminary rounds of talks, facilitated by the Afghan Taliban, said a commander based in Afghanistan's Kunar province.

Sources close to the matter said Sirajuddin Haqqani, head of the Haqqani Network and current interior minister of the Afghan Taliban, helped with the talks.

The TTP, which incorporates a number of jihadist and militant groups that have fought the Pakistani government since 2007, is on the US State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations.

Last month, Prime Minister Imran Khan told Turkey's TRT television his government was in talks with parts of the TTP as part of a "reconciliation process".

The release of the detainees was intended as a confidence-building measure, three TTP commanders said, adding that the outcome of the talks was still uncertain.

"We don't really expect an immediate outcome from the talks, but our leaders have demanded the release of prisoners if they are sincere in meaningful negotiations," a TTP commander told Reuters from Afghanistan's Kunar province, as quoted November 6.

No comment was available from the Government of Pakistan. The interior ministry, foreign ministry, and ISPR, the communications arm of the armed forces, did not respond to email requests for comment.

According to negotiators, both sides agreed not to issue statements in favor of or against the peace process or against each other, until the agreement was signed and announced.

Separately, TTP spokesman Muhammad Khurasani said in a text message that the group has never turned down meaningful talks "but there have been no developments on the ground.

TTP attacks have killed and injured thousands of Pakistani civilians and service personnel over the years, but the group was severely weakened by the Pakistani military's 2014 Zarb-e-Azb operation that drove it from its stronghold in North Waziristan.

Its troop numbers are estimated at around 4.000-5.000 fighters, many based across the border in Afghanistan, and there has been a spate of incidents along the border since the Afghan Taliban seized Kabul in August.

To note, under the previous Western-backed government in Kabul, both Afghanistan and Pakistan accused each other of harboring militant groups that carried out cross-border attacks.

Another Pakistani Taliban commander said the TTP leadership had consulted all factions in the movement, some of whom had serious doubts about talking to the Pakistani government, but he said many ordinary fighters wanted to go home.