Pakistan to ask Taliban to deny TTP, its affiliates any space on Afghan soil

Islamabad [Pakistan], January 05 (ANI): Pakistan said it would approach the Taliban with a fresh demand to deny the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its affiliates any space on Afghan soil, reported The Express Tribune.

The Pakistan government would ask the Afghan Taliban to cooperate with the government in dealing with the TTP and other outfits with iron hands.

Pakistan's civil and military leadership said that the Afghan Taliban would be given a choice. They can either be with Pakistan or with the TTP, according to The Express Tribune.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Thursday said that the government could reinitiate negotiations with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) if the terror outfit "comes under the ambit of the Constitution," the Geo News reported.

The volte-face came just a day after the minister said that the government would not hold talks with any terrorist organisation, be it TTP.

"If the TTP decides to come under the ambit of the Constitution, then we can hold talks with them," the Geo News quoted Sanaullah as saying.

However, similar demands had been put forth to the proscribed organisation by the previous governments of Pakistan also.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan on Wednesday claimed responsibility for the killing of two senior Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officials, reported Khaama Press.

Police on Wednesday said that two intelligence officials were shot dead while they were cleaning their vehicle outside a restaurant. The suspects after firing the shots fled the scene.

Spokesperson of the Pakistani Taliban, Muhammad Khurasani in a statement on Wednesday said that TTP fighters have killed two Pakistani officials.

About 1,000 people were killed and injured in attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan on the Pakistan government in 2022, according to statistics published by the TTP terrorist group, Khaama Press reported.

TTP in a video said that most of their attacks took place in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. They also launched attacks outside the province, Khaama Press reported. (ANI)