ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Monday reiterated that the government would only talk to those who respect the Constitution and the law of Pakistan, saying “otherwise, we have battled before and will do again”.
The remark came as Fawad explained the dialogue process with the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) while responding to reporters’ questions at a press conference about the alleged armed attack on a polio vaccination team in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The information minister pointed out that the Afghan Taliban government had once again pressed the proscribed TTP to abide by the ceasefire agreement. “And I think their advice is sane,” he added.
Fawad said that the state has a clear policy to deal with parties or groups that have a terrorist or extremist background. “We have fought those who were not willing to comply with laws in the past and can do so in future also,” he reiterated.
He claimed that various extremist parties and groups had also been registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). He said there were big question marks on various parties’ sources of funding.
The minister’s remarks came three days after the TTP announced an end to a month-long ceasefire with the government and accused it of failing to honour the decisions reached earlier.
The two sides, according to the agreement, had accepted that the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” (IEA) would play the role of a mediator and that both sides would form five-member committees each which, under the supervision of the mediator, would discuss the next course of action and demands of each sides.
Both sides had also agreed to observe a month-long ceasefire from Nov 1 to Nov 30, 2021 and that the government would release 102 “imprisoned mujahideen” and hand them over to the TTP through the IEA.
In their statement on Dec 9, the banned TTP said the government had not only failed to implement the decisions reached between the two sides, but security forces had also conducted raids and killed and detained militants. “Under these circumstances, it is not possible to extend the ceasefire,” the TTP added.
Two cops martyred in armed attacks on polio team
Earlier, it had been reported that a police official was martyred during an armed attack on the polio vaccination team in KP’s Tank district on Sunday.
Tank Deputy Commissioner Kabir Khan Afridi confirmed the reports of the attack saying that some armed men opened fire at a police constable deputed for providing security to the polio vaccination team in Tank’s Shada village.
The constable died on the spot while the assailants managed to escape, Afridi said. This was the second time on the second consecutive day that a polio vaccination team was attacked and a cop was martyred.
