Pakistan prime minister meets with pro-Taliban team

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has held a meeting with peace talks committees representing the government and pro-Taliban militants.

The meeting took place at the premier’s house on Thursday, Pakistani news channel Geo News reported.

Speaking to media after the meeting, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) team’s leader Maulana Samiul Haq said they had discussed with the prime minister future strategy to carry forward the peace talks.

Samiul Haq further said the process was moving forward effectively, and noted that time had come for decisions to be made.

The Pakistani government has resumed stalled peace talks with pro-Taliban militants to find a way to end the militancy that has claimed thousands of lives in the country over the past years.

Representatives of both the government and the TTP also met on Wednesday for the first time in three weeks.

Rahimullah Yusufzai, one of the negotiators representing the Pakistani government, said the talks were resumed after the militants said they were not responsible for the recent attacks.

Last week, the militants announced a month-long ceasefire aimed at resuming talks with the government. In response to the unilaterally-announced truce, Islamabad stopped airstrikes against militant positions in the country’s troubled northwestern tribal region.