Mix-up delays start of peace talks with Pakistani Taliban

Pakistani Taliban delegation says government negotiators failed to show up, while government says it was waiting for confirmation of who would be representing the militants.

A suicide bombing at a restaurant in Peshawar, the capital of militancy-hit Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, killed eight people on Tuesday, the day peace talks with Pakistani Taliban were due to start. Arshad Arbab / EPAShow less

ISLAMABAD // Peace talks between Pakistan and the Taliban were delayed yesterday amid confusion over the militant group’s delegation.

“We waited for the government team today, but they did not come,” said Maulana Samiul Haq, an imam chosen by the Taliban to represent them. He claimed Pakistani authorities were under United States pressure not to talk.

But Rahimullah Yousufzai of the government team said they had been waiting for the Taliban to confirm their negotiating team. “Now we have received that clarification and the meeting will take place in the next two days,” he said

The delay came as eight people were killed and 26 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a hotel in Peshawar. The Pakistani Taliban denied being responsible.

“We have no role in the blast and it was not carried out by the Pakistani Taliban,” said spokesman Shahid Ullah Shahid.

The prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been pushing for negotiations over military operations to end militant violence in the north-west of Pakistan, where more 40,000 people in recent years have been killed in acts of terrorism. Authorities blame most of the deaths on the Pakistani Taliban.

Mr Shahid prayed for the success of the talks. “May God help these people in this noble task,” he said.

Militants in Pakistan began targeting security forces and civilians in retaliation for Pakistan throwing its weight behind the US-led war in Afghanistan and for going after militants in the tribal areas.

The violence has put pressure on Mr Sharif to use force against the militants. In an apparent move to avoid any such operation, Pakistani Taliban recently agreed to the peace talks.

Over the weekend, the Taliban named a five-member committee, including the former cricketer Imran Khan, to represent them in talks with the government. Mr Khan, whose Tehreek-e-Insaf party runs the government in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Taliban’s tribal strongholds, says the Taliban should select its own members as representatives.

Mr Khan is strongly in favour of negotiations and has led a campaign against US drone strikes targeting militants in the north-west. The Taliban have been fighting to topple the government and enforce their hard-line brand of Islam across the country.

Critics say several such failed peace initiatives in the past have only emboldened the militants.

* Associated Press and Reuters