Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Hakimullah Mehsud said on Wednesday that the government had not followed up on the decision of talks made in the September All Parties Conference, however, if any such effort is made, a government jirga would be welcomed and provided full security.
In a rare television interview, the TTP leader told the BBC that the government should have made the peace talks announcement and called a jirga, as per convention instead of handing over responsibilities to the media.
Mehsud said that the Taliban were ready for peace talks and if serious attempts at negotiations were made, the Taliban would reciprocate.
“If a jirga nominated by the government comes to us, we will ensure its security,” he said, adding that the TTP were not going to start negotiating with the government through the media.
“We don’t want to talk through the media. Neither do we want to listen to the government’s conditions through the media nor do we want to present our conditions via media.”
US Withdrawal from Afghanistan
With many believing that the 2014 US withdrawal from Afghanistan could deflate the militant movements, Mehsud said that the situation in drawdown will not have any affect on Pakistani Taliban and they will continue to carry out their activities.
“We carry our fight in Pakistan for two reasons. One reason is that Pakistan is friends with America and at the behest of America, Pakistan has killed ulema and destroyed madrassas,” he said.
He said that the other reason for their fight against Pakistan was the prevalent “non-Islamic” system in the country.
Drones
The TTP leader reiterated that if America agreed to stop drone strikes, the Taliban would also stop their fight.
He said that that they were aware of the appeals of ulema who want them to stop the war.
“But in the case of us ending the war, we also want a stop to drone strikes. If drone strikes are stopped, we will be ready to stop our jihad.”
Blasts in public spaces
The TTP leader, who carries a $5 million bounty on his head, disowned the recent blasts in public spaces. “Other agencies are involved in that.”
“The purpose of the blasts is to misguide the people against Taliban, so that the people who support us can stop doing so.”
Mehsud said that the TTP have distanced themselves from such blasts before and will do so again.
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