ISLAMABAD,
Pakistan — The Pakistani Taliban announced a monthlong cease-fire on
Saturday and urged the government to revive peace talks that broke down
last month.
Shahidullah
Shahid, the spokesman of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, the
umbrella organization of militants, urged the government to join the
cease-fire and instructed all militant groups in the country to comply
with the truce.
“The
senior leadership directs all constituents and groups to respect and
fully abide by the cease-fire declaration and restrain themselves from
all kinds of jihadist activities,” the Taliban spokesman said in a statement.
Publicly,
Pakistani government officials welcomed the cease-fire and indicated
that the peace talks, which began last month but were soon suspended,
could be revived as soon as next week. But there was no official
reaction from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s office or the military.
“It is a welcome move,” said Irfan Siddiqui, the top government negotiator, according to local news media reports.
Maulana
Samiul Haq, a religious leader who represented the Taliban during the
talks with the government, also welcomed the cease-fire, describing it
as a step toward ensuring peace in the country, which has been ravaged
by more than a decade of insurgency and terrorism.
“The
Taliban have taken a step,” Mr. Haq said. “Now the government and
military should take further steps to ensure durable peace.”
Mr.
Shahid claimed that the Taliban had received assurances from the
government on some of its demands, though he did not elaborate. Other
militant leaders told Reuters that the government promised to halt its
attacks on the militants during the truce.
The
Taliban have previously claimed that women, children and elderly men
have been taken into custody by the military and have demanded their
release as a condition for a cease-fire. The military has denied the
charges, but a government negotiator, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity, said Saturday that the government had assured the Taliban of
the release of any noncombatant detainees on “humanitarian grounds.”
The Taliban also demanded a “demilitarized safe zone for direct talks,” the negotiator said.
Peace
talks between the militants and the government grew out of an
initiative announced on Jan. 29 by Mr. Sharif, who said he would pursue a
dialogue with the Taliban despite their terrorist attacks and growing
calls in Pakistan
for military action against the militants. But the talks between the
two sides yielded little, and the dialogue was suspended on Feb. 17
after a Taliban faction claimed that it had killed 23 paramilitary
soldiers in its custody.
Since
then, the Pakistani military has attacked militant hide-outs in North
Waziristan and the Khyber tribal regions, killing dozens of militants,
officials said.
There
has been growing speculation about plans for a military offensive in
North Waziristan, the rugged tribal region where Taliban and foreign
militants have found a haven.
Pakistani analysts said the Taliban’s cease-fire offer was probably aimed at forestalling a military offensive.
“The
Taliban had come under pressure,” said Talat Masood, a retired general
and a political analyst based in Islamabad. “The military showed its
resolve with surgical strikes and there was every likelihood of a
military offensive in subsequent weeks.”
Another
factor, Mr. Masood added, was the internal pressure from within the
broader network of militants. “The Haqqani network and Hafiz Gul Bahadur
must have leaned on the Taliban,” saying “you are creating problems for
us,” he said.
The
Haqqani network is a feared militant group that operates in Pakistan
and Afghanistan and is involved in attacks on American forces in
Afghanistan. Mr. Bahadur is a local warlord who has maintained a truce
with the Pakistani military since 2009, and his fighters have not
attacked security forces.
“They wanted to avoid the military operation,” said Asad Munir, a retired army brigadier, referring to the militants.
“They
realized that almost all political parties were now supporting the
military operation, and troops were positioned for action,” Mr. Munir
said.
Pakistani analysts warned that the militants could use the cessation of hostilities to recover from the military’s airstrikes.
“I
think the cease-fire offer should be taken at its face value, but the
government should ensure that it is not used by the Taliban to
strengthen themselves,” said Mr. Masood, the analyst.
Mr.
Munir suggested that because several militant factions were opposed to
peace talks, the cease-fire would remain tenuous. “I don’t think there
will be an end to terrorist attacks,” he said. “All militants will not
agree to it.”
The
announcement of the truce came just hours after two bombings killed 13
people and wounded 10 in an attack on a polio vaccination team in the
northwestern Khyber region. There was no immediate claim of
responsibility.
Efforts to eradicate polio have been hampered by militants, who say the vaccination program is a cover for spying.
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