Militants mull response to talks offer by Pakistani premier

Senior pro-Taliban leaders have gathered to draft a formal response to a recent offer of peace talks by the Islamabad government.

A meeting of the Central Council of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is being held in an unspecified location in the northwestern tribal region to draw up a formal response to the government’s peace overtures, the daily Dawn newspaper reported .

The meeting comes days after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called for peace talks with the pro-Taliban militant groups. The developments also come after Pakistani political leaders gathered for cross-party talks on how to tackle growing insecurity during new President Mamnoon Hussain’s swearing-in ceremony on Monday.

Sharif has been an advocate of peace talks with Taliban militants since his election campaign which ended in his May victory.

In May, a Taliban spokesman was quoted as saying that the militants might agree on a truce if Sharif and his party showed seriousness in holding the peace talks.

However, pro-Taliban militants withdrew their offer of peace talks to the new government after a US terror drone killed their deputy chief, Wali-ur-Rahman Mehsud.

Militants have carried out numerous attacks against security forces as well as civilians, and managed to spread their influence in various regions of the country, despite frequent offensives by the Pakistani Army.

Pakistani security forces have launched several operations in the troubled northwest and southwest in a bid to flush out militants from its tribal zone.

Despite the Pakistani government’s operations against pro-Taliban militants and associated groups, they have been able to spread their influence in various regions of the country and kill thousands of people.

Thousands of Pakistanis have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks since 2001 when Pakistan entered an alliance with the US on the so-called war on terror, according to local media.