PESHAWAR: A day after Prime Minister Imran Khan told an international news channel his administration was in talks with some factions of the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the militant network denied any split within its ranks and ruled out cessation of hostilities against the country.
In an interview with TRT World on Friday, Khan said some groups within the militant conglomerate were willing to negotiate for peace and reconciliation, adding that the government was willing to forgive them once they laid down their arms.
The prime minister’s statement, which was widely quoted in local and international media, was followed by reports that a TTP district shura in Waziristan had announced a 20-day cease-fire and its members would not attack the Pakistani security forces.
However, the top leadership of the militant network said it was not looking for a peace agreement with the Pakistani authorities.
“Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has never announced a cease-fire,” its spokesperson, Muhammad Khurasani, said in a statement. “TTP fighters should continue their attacks wherever they are.”
Khurasani described TTP as an “organized movement,” saying there were “no fissures or factions within the group.”
“The movement has a collective policy which no one can deviate from,” he added.
Last month, President Arif Alvi and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi announced the government was willing to offer amnesty to TTP members if they renounced violence and adhered to the country’s constitution.
However, the militant network stated in response it was proud of its “struggle” and was not seeking forgiveness from anyone.
The Pakistani prime minister, who said he did not believe in military solutions, continued to hope during his recent interview that a deal was likely come out of his government’s negotiations with the militant network in Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s information minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain also maintained in a video message that repentant TTP members should get a chance to return to “normal life.”
A security analyst, Saleem Khan, told Arab News the government was also negotiating a peace deal with the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group in North Waziristan, though he added the faction was never a part of the Pakistani Taliban.
He maintained that these talks were complicated since most of the armed groups in the territory were sympathetic to TTP and had pledged allegiance to the leader of the banned group, Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud.
“There are complications in the negotiations because they [the government] are holding talks with Hafiz Gul Bahadur while the main entity is Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan,” he said. “Unless they address the TTP challenge, talks with Hafiz Gul Bahadur will not help. In any case, his faction did not cause too much trouble to the government in the past.”
A conglomerate of several armed factions, TTP was banned soon after its emergence in Pakistan’s tribal areas in 2007 since it started killing Pakistani civilians and security forces.
Inspired by Al Qaeda ideology, it targeted the army headquarters in Rawalpindi and massacred more than 100 children at a school in Peshawar.
The network also took responsibility for shooting Malala Yousafzai, who later became the world’s youngest Nobel laureate, in her hometown, Swat, for advocating girls’ education.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan dismisses reports of ceasefire, denies internal divisions
https://arab.news/2ekkh
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan dismisses reports of ceasefire, denies internal divisions
- The proscribed militant entity issued a statement after PM Khan said his administration was negotiating with its factions for peace, reconciliation
- TTP called itself an ‘organized movement,’ saying it had a collective policy which no one could deviate from
Pakistan alarmed as Russia-Ukraine conflict intensifies, calls for immediate ceasefire
- Pakistan envoy urges both sides to resolve ongoing conflict through peaceful means during Security Council briefing
- Russia last Friday fired hypersonic ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warhead at Ukraine, drawing criticism
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Iftikhar Ahmad this week expressed alarm as the Russia-Ukraine conflict intensifies, calling for an immediate ceasefire and demanding both countries resolve their issues peacefully through dialogue.
The development takes place days after Russia last week fired an intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile at Ukraine called Oreshnik. The move drew sharp criticism as the missile is capable of carrying nuclear and conventional warheads. Russia said it fired the Oreshnik in response to what Moscow says was an attempted Ukrainian drone attack on Dec. 29 against one of Putin’s residences in northern Russia. Ukraine denies Moscow’s claims.
February 2026 will mark four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, triggering the worst armed conflict in Europe since World War II. The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes.
“We are alarmed by the recent intensification in fighting with escalation in attacks from both sides, further worsening the already dire humanitarian situation,” Ahmad said on Monday during a UN Security Council briefing on the Ukraine conflict.
“Such actions not only perpetuate the conflict, but they also undermine trust, and the ongoing efforts for peace.”
The Pakistani envoy urged both sides to abide by the principles of international law and ensure civilians and civilian infrastructure are protected during the conflict. He said Pakistan’s position on resolving the issue through dialogue has not changed.
“Now, more than ever before, the overwhelming global opinion is on the side of ending this conflict through peaceful means,” Ahmad said. “This can only be achieved through a sustained, meaningful and structured dialogue.”
US President Donald Trump has been pushing both sides to strike a deal to halt the conflict, running shuttle diplomacy between Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia’s Vladimir Putin in a bid to get an agreement across the line. Plans to broker peace collapsed after an initial 28-point plan, which largely adhered to Moscow’s demands, was criticized by Kyiv and Europe.
Ahmad appreciated the US for attempting to resolve the conflict through peaceful means.
“We hope that all sides would make full use of the ongoing diplomacy, demonstrate genuine political will, and engage constructively to make meaningful strides toward a peaceful and negotiated settlement of the conflict, starting with an immediate ceasefire,” he said.
