ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Friday that the government-Taliban talks could not move ahead in an environment of tug-of-war.
Talking to media persons at the Nadra headquarters after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on setting up of citizen facilitation centres in the province, Chaudhry Nisar said the government was sincere in the dialogue process and there was no delay on its part. “But in such an atmosphere of tension, stress and strain when everybody is busy in political point-scoring, results of negotiations between the government and the Taliban could not be obtained,” the minister said. He said the dialogue process with the Taliban could not move ahead in an atmosphere of contradictory statements.
The minister said he would present a report to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on his return from London that in view of the present situation, the dialogue process could not be taken forward.
“It will be difficult to continue the process of negotiations in the situation of polarisation generated unfortunately by the people who are taking part in the reconciliation process,” the minister maintained, adding that they should express their point of view in the meeting, not in TV talk shows or public meetings.
Chaudhry Nisar said the dialogue process was the only way to handle these matters and there had been positive progress, which led to reduction in violence. He said due to the whole process, contacts had been established with the Taliban and the government came to know about their thinking, views and demands.
He said the date for the next meeting was to be fixed by the other side. He said there was no hitch from the government or the military. The minister said he wanted that the next meeting of the Taliban-government committees should be decisive and both sides should put their complete agendas on the table.
“Possibly on Monday, I will submit a report to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to inform himstakeholders, were forcefully criticising the dialogue process. “At the start, there were people who were opposed to the dialogue process and we listened to them and tolerated them as it is part of democracy,” he said, adding that now even those who were supporters of dialogue were showing contradiction in their stance.
The minister said the dialogue process was a sensitive and complex issue but every day contradictory statements were being made about it. “Those who were supposed to assist in the dialogue process were making one statement in indoor meeting and saying something else at the public meetings,” Nisar said.
The minister emphatically stated that there has never been any deadlock in the peace process.Responding to a question, the minister said non-combatant Taliban prisoners were released in consultation with military authorities, adding that there was no conflict between the government and military leadership. “There is no hurdle from the government or the army in the dialogue process. The government is serious in this matter and there is no delay from its side,” he maintained.
He said it had been said by certain quarters on the issue of release of prisoners that the army was not supporting it. He explained that the prisoners who were released earlier were in the control of army, which decided who were non-combatants and should be released.
To a question about civil-military relations, he said the situation was normal at present as it was in the past.Earlier, speaking on the occasion of signing ceremony of MoU, the minister said Nadra earned a profit of Rs1.3 billion in three months and it had been put in the right direction through many changes in the last eight months.
He said more than 350 ghost employees were identified, adding that now transparent online tests would be held for posting of Nadra employees abroad.He said in the past such postings were made in violation of rules and on the basis of nepotism.The minister said the new Nadra chairman would be appointed by a committee according to the relevant ordinance
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