Islamabad has ruled out talks with Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). This comes a day after a senior Afghan Taliban leader requested both the sides to sit down and negotiate a peace deal.
Muhammad Nabi Omari, deputy interior minister of the interim Taliban government in Afghanistan made the remarks at an iftar gathering in the southeastern Khost town.
“We ask the government of Pakistan and advise the brothers (TTP) who are fighting with them to come together and talk,” he said.
The Afghan Taliban have been requesting Pakistan and the TTP to engage in direct talks and to end over two-decades-long conflict that has claimed thousands of lives.
So far the effort made by the Afghan Taliban to ensure talks between both the sides have ended in a deadlock. Recently, Islamabad accused Kabul of providing sanctuary to militants and urging it to take action against the militant organisation.
Relations between both the sides have been strained following the recent airstrikes carried out by Pakistan airforce in retaliation for the death of seven of its soldiers in a suicide bombing in North Waziristan in March.
Pakistan foreign spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch ruled out talks with the TTP and said that Afghan authorities need to take urgent action against terrorist outfits and their leadership for the crimes they were committing and the terrorist incidents in Pakistan.
She added that Pakistan remained committed to fighting against all terrorist outfits which had targeted Pakistan and the symbols of Pakistan-China friendship.
Recently, Pakistan police detained over 12 people, including Afghan nationals, in connection with a suicide bombing that killed five Chinese engineers and their driver last week.
Police officials have suggested that the attack was carried out by Pakistan’s domestic chapter of the Taliban.
Soon after the attack, Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif had visited Chinese workers and assured them that Pakistan would “not leave any stone unturned” to guarantee their safety.
