| The government is likely to discuss the issue of a general amnesty for militants who attacked security forces over the past year during the third round of talks with the Mullah Fazlullah-led militants on Wednesday (May 21). An official source privy to the previous meetings told Daily Times that there were three contentious issues in the talks: general amnesty; the militantsÂ’ surrender of weaponry seized from security forces; and the governmentÂ’s return of FazlullahÂ’s Imam Dheri headquarters to the militants. He said that the government had presented 23 conditions for peace and the Taliban had only provided seven. The source said that the government was planning to make the complete peace agreement public once an agreement had been reached. A Taliban representative said that Fazlullah had examined the governmentÂ’s demands, adding that his suggestions would be discussed with the government during the next round of talks. A separate source said that preparations were underway to start army withdrawal from Swat by the end of May. However, army officials in Mingora said that they were not aware of any such plan. |