Pakistani Taliban have been battling for years to topple the central government and establish Islamic rule, but Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif believes the movement is now ready to find a negotiated settlement and halt the fighting. While our people are martyred, the government has lukewarm plans for negotiations. I personally believe that the federal government should be brave enough to names those who take responsibility for attacks as villains and criminals. With few attacks in Punjab the government has its own appeasement policy.
One of the TTP’s negotiating team, Maulana Abdul Aziz, said recently that there was no chance of peace unless the government agreed to the armed group’s demand for Islamic law to be executed throughout Pakistan. It is apparent from the above statement that they are not in favor of negotiation. So in this case negotiation with these criminal is adding fuel to fire in the country and hurting the families of the martyr’s.
KHALID AHMED,
Baluchistan, May 15.