Pakistanis slam talks with pro-Taliban militants

People have taken to the streets in two cities in Pakistan to slam the Islamabad government’s strategy to hold talks with pro-Taliban militants in the country.

During a Sunday protest in the city of Rawalpindi, the demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans over Islamabad’s move to hold talks with the militants.

They also condemned the targeted killing of Shia Muslims in the country.

Furthermore, the protesters urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to reveal the details of a three-billion-dollar loan from Saudi Arabia. The protesters say Islamabad has secretly made a deal with Riyadh over Syria to secure the loan.

Saudi Arabia has been supporting the militants operating inside Syria over the past three years.

In the other demonstration, which took place in the city of Khairpur, the protesters called on the government to use an iron fist instead of dialog in dealing with the militants.

The first round of the talks between the government and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants took place earlier in February.

The representatives of the government and the militants most recently met on Wednesday.

The talks originally came after the militants announced a month-long ceasefire aimed at resuming talks with the government. In response to the unilaterally-announced truce by the militants, the Islamabad government stopped airstrikes against their positions in the country’s troubled northwestern tribal region.

Prime Minister Sharif has supported the talks since he took office last year.

Pakistan has been experiencing violence since 2001, when Islamabad joined the so-called US war on terror. According to Pakistani authorities, nearly 50,000 people have lost their lives in the conflict.