TTP sets conditions for ceasefire with Pakistan, seeks direction from Islamic clerics

Peshawar: The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has laid down conditions for a fresh ceasefire with the Pakistan Army. The TTP, which is fighting for the rights of the Pashtun people in Pakistan, has carried out near-daily attacks against the security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan over tha past couple of months. In a video message, TTP chief Mufti Noor Wali Mehsood said the Taliban fighters will maintain the ceasefire if Pakistan Army halts its operations. “We held talks with Pakistan mediated by Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. We are still open to the ceasefire agreement,” the Dawn newspaper quoted TTP chief Mufti Noor Wali Mehsood as saying in the video. Mehsood’s change in stance comes amid reports that he has sought guidance from religious scholars in Pakistan. In the video message, Mehsood said his outfit is “open to guidance” from Pakistan’s religious scholars if they believe “the direction of our jihad” is wrong, according to the Express Tribune newspaper. “If you find any problem in the jihad that we waged, if you believe we have changed our direction, that we have gone astray, then you’re requested to guide us. We’re always ready to listen to your arguments happily,” the TTP chief said. In November last year, the TTP called off an indefinite ceasefire agreed with the government in June 2022 and ordered its militants to carry out attacks on the security forces. The TTP, which is believed to have close links to al-Qaida, has threatened to target top leaders of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s PML-N and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s PPP if the ruling coalition continued to implement strict measures against the militants. The TTP, also known as the Pakistan Taliban, was set up as an umbrella group of several militant outfits in 2007. Its main aim is to impose its strict brand of Islam across Pakistan. Pakistan had hoped that the Afghan Taliban after coming to power would stop the use of their soil against Pakistan by expelling the TTP operatives but they have apparently refused to do so at the cost of straining ties with Islamabad. The TTP has been blamed for several deadly attacks across Pakistan, including an attack on army headquarters in 2009, assaults on military bases and the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. In 2014, the Pakistani Taliban stormed the Army Public School in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing at least 150 people, including 131 students. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.