MONITORING (SW) – Senator Raza Rabbani in Pakistan has demanded a parliamentary inquiry into the previous government’s “rehabilitation policy” of the proscribed TTP in the country.
Condemning the Peshawar bombing in a Senate session, he stressed that Pakistan needed to review the causes of the rise in terrorism. “The TTP’s rehabilitation policy, which was initiated by the [previous] government, is the foundation of this.”
After the fall of the US-supported Ashraf Ghani government in Afghanistan in 2021, the Afghan Taliban had facilitated peace talks between the government and the TTP, reported Dawn. While negotiations with the banned group reportedly began in October 2021 under the PTI government’s watch, the process continued in fits and starts when the Shehbaz Sharif government took over.
In response, the banned outfit had declared a ceasefire and stopped its attacks on security forces, extending the truce in May. The government had also sent delegations of tribal elders and ulema to Kabul in order to persuade the TTP to end its activities and surrender its weapons.
The months-long negotiations, however, remained inconclusive and ultimately ended in November last year. Major sticking points included the TTP’s demands to roll back the merger of the erstwhile tribal areas with KP, release hardened terrorists, as well as the group’s refusal to lay down their arms. These were obvious red lines the state could not let the militants cross.
Addressing the upper house of Parliament today, Rabbani recalled that when the Taliban returned to Afghanistan, some thousands of people with weapons were allowed to enter Pakistan.
“It was said that they are good Taliban and they will work according to the law and Constitution […] it was said they will be rehabilitated,” he said.
The senator pointed out that neither the public nor Parliament was taken into confidence over the matter. “Even at that time, Parliament had said that a joint session should be called and all these things should be presented before it so that the public’s opinion could be brought forward.”
Rabbani went on to say that permission was also not taken from the National Security Committee, instead, it was just told that negotiations with the TTP were under way.
“The negotiations were outsourced to a jirga. PPP and ANP had strong reservations about them,” he said, demanding that a parliamentary inquiry should be conducted into the matter.
The senator also said that the terrorism policy should be discussed in the joint sitting of the Parliament on Feb 8.
“All the stakeholders and political parties should be called to the Parliament for a dialogue. This is the question of life and death but parties are busy in doing politics,” he added.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the attack on a mosque in Peshawar’s Police Lines area a day earlier rose to 96 on Tuesday after more bodies were recovered from the attack site, according to Commissioner Riaz Mehsud.
On Monday, 59 people, mostly police officials, were martyred and over 150 were injured after an explosion ripped through a mosque in Peshawar’s Red Zone area. The powerful blast blew away the wall of the prayer hall and an inner roof.
The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack. It later distanced itself from it but sources earlier indicated that it might have been the handiwork of some local faction of the outlawed group.
ENDS
