Govt confused over talks with Taliban

Charsadda: Awami National Party (ANP) leader Asfandyar Wali Khan on Sunday that the federal government was confused about holding talks with the Taliban. He said on the one hand a military operation was being carried out, but on the other the idea of talks with the militants was being mooted.


“We don’t know how much progress has been made in the negotiations [with the Taliban],” he said. He called upon the federal government to convene an in-camera All Parties Conference to inform the political leaders about any headway in the talks and take the political parties into confidence in that respect.



Asfandyar Wali said the country had been left at the mercy of terrorists and extortionists. “Our homeland is passing through a critical phase and the security situation was spinning out of control with each passing day. The situation could take a turn for the worse if the rulers didn’t mend their ways and took corrective steps,” he warned.



The ANP leader also demanded of the federal government to inform them about its policy on Afghanistan.Taking a swipe at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for its protest sit-in against the Nato supplies in Peshawar, he said truckers ferried the Nato supplies from the Karachi port via Sindh and Punjab, but the Imran Khan-led party blocked the route in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.



“The PTI should have blocked the Nato cargo in Sindh or Punjab instead of disrupting the supplies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as it is giving a wrong message to the world that the Pakhtuns are extremists,” he maintained.



He criticised Imran Khan for his protest against the price-hike in Punjab and said the PTI leadership had failed to address the issue of inflation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.Paying glowing tributes to Bacha Khan and Wali Khan, he said both the leaders rendered sacrifices for the Pakhtuns. He said Bacha Khan was an apostle of peace and advocated the philosophy of non-violence.