PESHAWAR: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan is ready to consider ‘pardoning’ the TTP [Tehreek-e-Taliban-Pakistan] members, if they promise not to get involved in terrorism and submit to the Pakistani Constitution.
Foreign Minister’s statement came a few days after President Arif Alvi’s remarks that the government may consider giving amnesty to those members of the banned TTP who surrender and recognize the Pakistani constitution. Now Qureshi also offered a conditional amnesty for the banned TTP in an interview with the independent. He said that if TTP promises not to get involved in terrorism and recognizes the constitution of Pakistan, then Pakistan is ready to consider pardoning them.
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Qureshi said Pakistan is concerned about reports of TTP prisoners being released from Afghan jails. However, he welcomed the Taliban’s announcement that no one will be allowed to use Afghan soil against Pakistan. The foreign minister said that Pakistan had repeatedly urged President Ashraf Ghani about the presence of TTP hideouts in Afghanistan but Ghani administration was not serious in taking action to stop terrorist from using Afghan territory against Pakistan. He said Islamabad is expecting that the Taliban administration will take effective measure against the militants.
The TTP have unleashed deadly attacks against Pakistan armed forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan. Yesterday, seven Pakistan soldiers were martyred in clash with TTP terrorists in South Waziristan. The Inter-Services Public Relations [ISPR, the military’s media wing] informed that five terrorists were also killed in the clash. According to ISPR, security forces came under attack during a search operation in the Asman Manza area of the district. The ISPR informed that the search operation was underway in the area.