Tag: Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan

  • ‘Unilateral decision to offer amnesty to TTP an insult to victims of terrorism’: Bilawal Bhutto

    ‘Unilateral decision to offer amnesty to TTP an insult to victims of terrorism’: Bilawal Bhutto

    Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday took to Twitter to express his disapproval of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for offering to pardon Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) members if they renounce violence and respect the nation’s Constitution.

    Bilawal tweeted, “The unilateral decision to offer amnesty to terrorist groups within Pakistan is an insult to the thousands of victims of terrorism.”

    “Imran’s policy of appeasement to religious fascism within Pakistan as well as on our eastern & western borders will haunt us in-times to come,” added Bilawal.

    Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader, Khurram Dastgir Khan, while speaking on Dawn News programme “News Eye”, said, “It is shameful and reprehensible of the President and the Foreign Minister to hint at a general amnesty for the TTP.”

    “Terrorists in Pakistan have martyred children, women, the elderly, young and our soldiers. We cannot forget this,” said Dastgir.

    Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in an interview with The Independent said that the government would be “open to giving” a pardon to members of the banned TTP if they promise not to get involved in terrorism and follow the Constitution of Pakistan.

    The minister’s comments came after President Arif Alvi said, if anyone wants to leave the ideology of the banned TTP and work as per the Constitution of Pakistan, the government may consider a general amnesty.

  • ‘Pakistan open to pardoning banned TTP’: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

    ‘Pakistan open to pardoning banned TTP’: Shah Mahmood Qureshi

    Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in an interview with The Independent has said that the government would be “open to giving” a pardon to members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) if they promise not to get involved in terrorism and follow the Constitution of Pakistan.

    Qureshi said Pakistan was concerned about the reports of TTP figures being released from prisons in the wake of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

    “If those guys come and start creating problems for us over here, it will affect innocent lives and we don’t want that,” he said while referring to the TTP.

    Qureshi added, “If [the TTP] are willing to mend fences and not take the law into their hands and not get involved in terrorist activities and they submit and surrender to the writ of the government and the Constitution of Pakistan, we are even open to giving them a pardon.”

    “But as long as they do not come and start undertaking terrorist activities [in Pakistan]. That is our concern,” the minister stressed.

    The minister’s comments come days after President Arif Alvi while speaking on Dawn News programme, ‘Khabar se Khabar’, said, if anyone wants to leave the ideology of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and work as per the Constitution of Pakistan, the government may consider a general amnesty.

  • Taliban reassure that TTP will not be given permission to operate in Afghanistan against Pakistan: Rashid

    Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said on Monday that the Afghan Taliban had reassured the government that the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) would not be given permission to operate in Afghanistan against Pakistan.

    While addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Rashid said that some of the TTP members such as Maulvi Faqir Mohammad had been released by the Taliban after their takeover of Kabul on August 15, further adding that the government was in complete contact with the Taliban on the matter.

    “The Afghan Taliban have reassured [us] that Afghanistan’s land will not be allowed to be used in any case by the TTP,” said Rashid.

    He said Pakistan desired peace in Afghanistan since peace in one country was related to peace in the other.

  • ‘Pakistan cannot dictate to us’: Afghan Taliban spokesperson

    ‘Pakistan cannot dictate to us’: Afghan Taliban spokesperson

    The spokesperson for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan Suhail Shaheen, while talking on Geo News’ programme ‘Jirga’ said that Pakistan “cannot dictate to us or impose its views on us”.

    Shaheen gave these remarks to senior journalist Saleem Safi. He further added that Pakistan is welcome to help the Taliban arrive at a settlement in Afghanistan.

    In the context of reports that the Afghan Taliban are not willing to listen to Pakistan, the spokesperson said: “We want brotherly relations. They are neighbours, a Muslim country, and we have shared values — historical, religious and cultural.”

    “They can help us in the peace process but can’t dictate to us or impose their views. And this is against international principles,” he added.

    Speaking of the Taliban’s demand for an Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Shaheen said that having an emirate is “a legitimate right of the people of Afghanistan”.

    “We say nothing about other governments. They should not impose their view,” he said, reiterating, “This is not in accordance with international principles either.”

    On whether the Taliban accept the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or consider them opponents after the TTP emir swore loyalty to Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Haibatullah Akhunzada, Shaheen said: “I do not know of the TTP emir swearing allegiance [to our leader] but I will tell you the policy of the Islamic Emirate.”

    “We will not allow the use of Afghan soil, neither by an individual nor by any group. I have said this in many interviews and I think our position is clear and known to all.”

  • Pak ready to partner for peace in Afghanistan, we will not host US bases: PM for WaPo

    Pak ready to partner for peace in Afghanistan, we will not host US bases: PM for WaPo

     Prime Minister Imran Khan, in an opinion piece for The Washington Post, wrote that Pakistan is ready to be a US partner for peace in Afghanistan, but will not host US bases and avoid risking further conflict.

    “We simply cannot afford this. We have already paid too heavy a price. Meanwhile, if the US, with the most powerful military machine in history, couldn’t win the war from inside Afghanistan after 20 years, how would America do it from bases in our country?”

    He added that Pakistan was ready to be a partner for peace in Afghanistan with the US. “But as US troops withdraw, we will avoid risking further conflict,” wrote PM Khan.

    He said that Pakistan and the US have the same interest in that long-suffering country: a political settlement, stability, economic development and the denial of any haven for terrorists.

    “We oppose any military takeover of Afghanistan, which will lead only to decades of civil war, as the Taliban cannot win over the whole of the country, and yet must be included in any government for it to succeed.”

    Highlighting how Pakistan has suffered from the wars in Afghanistan, PM Khan wrote, “More than 70,000 Pakistanis have been killed. While the US provided $20 billion in aid, losses to the Pakistani economy have exceeded $150 billion.”

    “After joining the US effort, Pakistan was targeted as a collaborator, leading to terrorism against our country from the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and other groups. US drone attacks, which I warned against, didn’t win the war, but they did create hatred for Americans, swelling the ranks of terrorist groups against both our countries,” wrote the premier.

    Arguing against giving military bases to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for action inside Afghanistan, he said if the United States, with the most powerful military machine in history, couldn’t win the war from inside Afghanistan after 20 years, how would America do it from the bases in Pakistan?

    The prime minister also mentioned the benefits the region would get after peace in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s desire for increased trade and connectivity with Central Asia for an economic uplift.

    “This is why we have done a lot of real diplomatic heavy lifting to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table, first with the Americans, and then with the Afghan government,” PM Khan wrote, highlighting Pakistan’s efforts for peace.

    “We know that if the Taliban tries to declare a military victory, it will lead to endless bloodshed. We hope the Afghan government will also show more flexibility in the talks, and stop blaming Pakistan, as we are doing everything we can short of military action.”

    The premier concluded by saying that promoting economic connectivity and regional trade was the key to lasting peace and security in Afghanistan, adding that further military action was “futile”.

    “If we share this responsibility, Afghanistan, once synonymous with the ‘Great Game’ and regional rivalries, could instead emerge as a model of regional cooperation.”

  • Malala calls out PM Imran, army over escape of ex-Taliban spokesperson

    Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has asked Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and the army as to how did former Pakistani Taliban spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan escaped Pakistan’s custody.

    “This is the ex-spokesperson of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who claims responsibility for the attack on me and many innocent people,” Malala tweeted after a Twitter handle “impersonating the former TTP spokesperson” threatened her.

    “He is now threatening people on social media,” Malala said further, after which she went on to ask the military’s media wing and PM Imran as to how did the Ehsan even escape.

    While the tweet by Ehsan, which Malala was responding to, has been deleted as a consequence of account suspension by Twitter, in it the ex-TTP mouthpiece had asked her father and her to return to Swat, saying they still “owe a massive debt”.

    Ehsan is infamous for issuing claims of carrying out TTP attacks and has been linked to some of the country’s most deadly incidents of terror. These include the massacre of children at Army Public School (APS) Peshawar, bombing at a park in Lahore on Easter in 2016, and the targeting of Malala.

    He surrendered to authorities in 2017 and later gave interviews to a Pakistani TV channel, leading to criticism and controversy that a terrorist was given airtime. It angered many in the country who believed he was being pampered by authorities after years of helping lead a violent insurgency.

    Ehsan mysteriously escaped custody in February 2020, which, according to SAMAA, was also confirmed by the army.

    While the now-suspended Twitter handle bearing Ehsan’s name was rather active, it has been dubbed as a fake one by many, including PM Imran’s focal person on digital media, Dr Arslan Khalid, who reacted to Malala’s statement.

    “It’s a fake account @Malala and there is zero tolerance for extremism in Pakistan,” he tweeted.

    However, Malala’s father Ziauddin Yousafzai responded to Dr Khalid, saying that they know for sure that the account belonged to Ehsanullah Ehsan.

  • ‘Taliban poster’ outside women college tells them to quit education or get killed

    ‘Taliban poster’ outside women college tells them to quit education or get killed

    A poster allegedly by proscribed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) outside a women degree college in Samarbagh area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) Lower Dir district has warned the students to abandon education or face dire consequences.

    According to the principal of Government Ghazi Umara Khan Degree College, the poster was pasted outside the institution’s main entrance on Friday night.

    The principal has also sent a letter to the KP Higher Education Department director, asking for security measures for safeguarding the lives of the female students.

    The poster threatened the students with death if they did not stop coming to the college.

    The college management has also informed the Lower Dir administration and the police about the development.

    While the poster has left worried the parents who demand of the district administration to probe the matter and take appropriate preventive measures, the TTP, in a statement, has reportedly distanced itself from the same.

    It is pertinent to note that one of Pakistan’s only two Nobel laureates, Malala Yousafzai, was also shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 for raising her voice for girl education.

    The attempt on Malala’s life was made while she was on a school bus in the Swat district that was back then under Taliban occupation.