ISLAMABAD:
During the first round of direct talks between the government and the
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Wednesday, the latter flatly refused
to release the sons of ex-prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and
ex-governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer and demanded the establishment of a
free zone for the Taliban and evacuation of the army from Waziristan.
Seriousness
as well as tense and lighter moments enveloped the lengthy talks
between the two committees, constituted by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
and the TTP for the dialogue process, with Major (retd) Aamir attending
the deliberations on the special invitation in the tribal area.
It
transpired during a chat with some participants that the Taliban would
release Prof Ajmal Khan, Vice Chancellor of the Islamia College
University, Peshawar, provided the government set free two of their
“companions” arrested on the charge of Khan’s kidnapping. About the
abducted Ali Haider, the son of Yusuf Raza Gilani, and Shahbaz, the son
of (late) Salmaan Taseer, the TTP interlocutors made it clear that they
were not “non-combatant” prisoners, and, therefore, could not be freed.
Explaining,
the TTP leaders said that the PPP was not only still engaged in the
campaign again the Taliban including attacks on them through Twitter (a
thinly veiled reference to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s strong tweets), but
had also earlier carried out operations against them.
In
addition, the Taliban said, their colleagues confined in Sindh jails
were being inhumanly tortured and paraded naked to humiliate them.One
participant told The News that the Taliban nominees made it clear more
than once that there would be no violation of the ceasefire announced by
them, as they considered its breach against the Shariah. This was music
to the ears of the government committee.
Major Aamir
informed the TTP negotiators in categorical terms that the government
agencies had no women or children, related to any Taliban, in their
custody. “The director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)
told me that his spy agency has no such people with it, and Fawad Hassan
Fawad said that army chief General Raheel Sharif has informed the prime
minister that there were no such persons in the custody of the
military.”
The participant said the Taliban accepted this
reply and thus the issue of release of this category of non-combatants
came to an end. “Authorities made it clear that being Muslims, it was
not possible to hold women and children not involved in terrorism,” the
TTP leaders were told.
They were also told that they gave
the list of their detainees to their intermediaries, led by Maulana
Samiul Haq, before the formation of the present official committee and
which was delivered to Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. They
were told had they handed it to the current body, it would have had
worked on it.
However, the official delegation said the
government committee and the Taliban intermediaries, accompanied by the
representatives of the security agencies, would work together and go to
different areas to locate the people when the TTP gave the new list.
According
to the source, the TTP delegates were also told that the interior
minister had worked hard to locate two women who, according to the
Taliban, were picked up near Tarnol. This demonstrates the official
earnestness, and the search is still continuing.
As the
inside story narrated by some participants goes, the inaugural meeting
started with recitation from the Holy Quran by Samiul Haq followed by
his brief opening remarks.
He stressed that the Pakistan
Constitution was Islamic and the fact that the religious leaders
(including his father) were also its signatories, reinforces its
sanctity.
Samiul Haq was addressed by some Taliban
negotiators as “Ustad-e-Mohtram” (respected teacher). He underlined the
need for peace and an end to mayhem and chaos, and said the purpose of
peace talks was to allow the two sides to hammer out their differences
amicably, without use of force.
As he wrapped up his
introductory remarks, Major Aamir interceded to say in a lighter vein
that though the Constitution was Islamic, it must have something
un-Islamic for the mere reason that Pervez Musharraf violated it twice.
This caused an instant laughter.
Then, Rustam Shah
Mohmand, a member of the official committee, who is known for his
straightforwardness, came in and took on the Taliban in a very harsh
tone. Addressing them, he said the TTP’s violence was not Jihad. “If you
want to wage Jihad, you should go to Palestine because there is nothing
in Pakistan against which you are fighting.
“You have
destroyed the peace and culture of the tribal areas and deprived even
the women and children of their homes. The tribal area has never faced
such a monumental tragedy that you have caused.”
Major
Aamir asked him to communicate in Urdu, but Rustam Shah Mohmand replied
that he would speak in Pashto as he feels comfortable by using his
language.Mohmand’s hard-hitting remarks infuriated Qari Shakil, armed
with lethal weapons, who told him that he was a fake Mohmand whereas “I
am a genuine Mohmand, who can speak on the behalf of the tribe better
than you.”
Seeing the tension, Major Aamir intervened and
dilated on the responsibilities of the host as per the Pashtoon
traditions. He told the TTP leaders that Rustam Shah had been defending
the Taliban for the last several years on every forum, including TV talk
shows by opposing the military operation. This cooled down the
atmosphere.
Major Aamir said the official sincerity to
make the dialogue process a success was evident from the fact that
everybody, who matters in decision making, was sitting in the session.
The nominees of the federal government, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
administration (represented through Rustam Shah), the ISI and the prime
minister are participating in the talks, which makes it abundantly clear
that authorities are unquestionably serious in resolving the issue
through peaceful means, he said.
He told them that even
Fawad, who was the king of bureaucracy and runs the entire government
and who gives appointments after months because of his preoccupation,
was also included in the official delegation.
Besides,
Major Aamir also said that not only the government, but the children of
Sheikhul Quran Maulana Tahir (his father) and Sheikhul Hadith (Samiul
Haq’s father) were also sitting before the Taliban delegation.
The
TTP leaders demanded that a peace zone should be declared for their
free movement in it. They told the government side that their delegation
had reached the venue of the meeting after two-day travel, including
walking on foot.
The government committee, particularly
Major Aamir, repeatedly emphasised the sincerity of the prime minister
and interior minister. “At one stage, a Taliban delegate remarked to
Major Aamir that he has made him a lover of the prime minister,” the
source said.
Overall, the TTP negotiators openly
acknowledged the sincerity of Nawaz Sharif and Chaudhry Nisar for the
peace process despite the strong opposition even from their own party
and cabinet, the participant said.
He said that whenever
Fawad spoke, he dilated on different points impressively, intelligently
and prudently. The attitude of all the members of the both sides was
positive and constructive, he felt.
The participant said
that after their helicopter landed in Thall, they were driven nearly 10
miles by the Frontier Corps (FC). At a certain point, the Taliban took
the charge and drove them another 12 miles with armed Taliban fighters
standing guard on both sides of the road and rooftops of nearby houses.
From this point, the FC came back.
Not only every member
of the hardcore Taliban advisory council but also the FC personnel asked
a similar question: will peace return and the violence end? Everyone
prayed for the success of the process.
The same was the
case when a member of the official committee visited the ISI
headquarters in Islamabad and met the chief of the agency on Thursday.At
one point of the deliberations, a participant narrated a joke to
explain that the “shop” (of projection) being run by Maulana Yousaf Shah
and Prof Muhammad Ibrahim because of their participation in talk shows,
hosted by male and female TV anchorpersons, will close down if the
talks succeeded.
The joke involved the travel of a village
couple and its children on a horse-driven cart with the woman sitting
on the backseat with the mentally unstable brother of the rider and her
children and spouse occupying the front seats. This again caused a
hearty laughter.Qari Shakil, Azam Tariq, Maulvi Bashir, Maulana Ahmed
and Dr Hussain, who are members of the TTP political advisory council,
represented the Taliban in the crucial deliberations.
