The Pakistani government is in negotiations with the Taliban, a militant Islamic group, to end the 13 years of insurgency and terrorist activities inside the country that followed the War On Terror in 2001.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has been waging an insurgency in Pakistan since 2007. Sometimes the Afghan Taliban also launch terrorist activities inside Pakistan and against the army in the border areas.
The government has come up with two options: negotiations for peace or military action against the Taliban. As a first strategy, the government has decided to talk to them to end terrorism and insurgency in Pakistan and the border areas with Afghanistan.
Talks began on January 29. Two committees were formed, one representing the government and the other Taliban. A cease-fire was announced in March and was extended.
But the Taliban ended their 40-day cease-fire on April 10 after they claimed the government had failed to make progress on their two initial demands: the release of non-combatant prisoners and vacating some areas in South Waziristan for future talks as a peace zone.
The US-Taliban talks during 2012-13 remained inconclusive because of the issue of the prisoner exchange. The resumed Pakistan-Taliban talks must take into account this very important factor.
There are many who are not in favor of talks but stand by military action. This also involves those political parties that initially gave a mandate to the government for talks with the Taliban but are now talking about military action. Fortunately, the government still insists that the talks are progressing and military action should be avoided.
The government keeps giving negotiations a chance to bring peace. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Sami) Chief and Head of the Taliban talks committee Maulana Sami ul Haq has been playing a crucial role to bring the two groups to the negotiation table. Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan has made admirable efforts from the very beginning to bring a negotiated peace. They are trying their level best to remove the hurdles in way of peace.
Sami ul Haq has been convincing the Taliban Shura (advisory council) to directly negotiate with the government, but there are some internal differences in the Shura.
Doubts are often raised that the civilian government and the military are not on the same page for talks with the Taliban. Yet there is no clarity about this claim, and it appears that the army has been standing by the civilian government on the issue. Both sides often denied the claim levelled about the stalled negotiations.
There are complaints and reservations on both sides, but the committees have been making steady progress. Results cannot be obtained overnight. The terrorist mess created in the past 13 years is somewhat complex. It will take time to clean it up.
Both committees have been slowly and gradually removing ambiguity and mistrust surrounding the peace talks. The process may be long and excruciating, but it must continue in order to bring peace in Pakistan and the region.
Negotiations are crucial this year as the US coalition forces will leave Afghanistan and new elections have just concluded there. The failure in peace talks with the Taliban was a serious setback to the US strategy. Now Pakistan faces this daunting challenge.
With the absence of the US coalition forces by the end of this year, an elected government and peace negotiations with the Taliban across both sides is essential to build a durable peace in Afghanistan and the region. This would prevent global terrorism.
James Dobbins, the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, recently visited Pakistan and supported government efforts to negotiate with the Taliban to promote peace and end violence.
In this context, the government is taking the right decision to strike a peace deal with the Taliban. Both the government and the Taliban should move forward with sincerity.
The last four months of talks have produced a more conducive environment for peace and this spirit must continue no matter how many times the talks face deadlock. This is the real spirit of negotiations.
Views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ISS or of the Government of Pakistan.
