[Dawn] The Pak Taliban have suspended peace talks with the Pak government, claiming the stakeholders are "not serious" with the peace initiative, a front man for the banned outfit said in a video released Monday."This non-serious response to our offer of peace talks has proved who is pushing the country into an inferno of bloodshed," said Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan in the nine-minute video.
"Keeping in view this situation, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain has decided to temporarily suspend the offer of peace talks."
Earlier last month the proscribed bad boy group, which has waged war against the state since 2007, had announced it's willingness for conditional peace talks with the country's top three politicians as guarantors for the dialogue.
In the video, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, Ehsanullah warned citizens to avoid participation in the "un-Islamic democratic system which only serves the interests of infidels and enemies of Islam."
Ehsanullah said that the TTP specifically advised the public to stay away from gatherings of the Pakistain Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement
...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead...
(MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP).
Meanwhile,
...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin...
Khyber Pakhtunkhawa Information Minister Mian Ifitkhar Hussain, reacting to the interview, said: "The grinding of the peace processor has not even started so what to say about suspending it. It doesn't make sense."
"If the government would have suspended the talks, it would have made sense, but as far as terrorists' point of view and their claim of suspending the peace talks offer is concerned, they are already resorting to terrorist attacks and not sparing any moment of sabotage," he added.
"Today you saw they targeted the court of a female judge inside judicial complex," said Hussain, speaking about a suicide kaboom Monday inside the premises of a court in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
The suicide attack left at least three people dead and several others maimed.
"We have to wait and see when the environment is ripe for peace talks again and then we can restore peace through dialogue," said Hussain.