Pakistan rules out talks with TTP

WASHINGTON: Accusing former prime minister Imran Khan’s government of following a policy of appeasement towards the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the new leadership — both political and military — have ruled out talks with terrorist organisations that don’t respect the country’s laws and Constitution. The foreign minister also clarified that Pakistan has no intention of launching a cross-border operation in Afghanistan.

“I am confident that if we can work with the Afghan interim government, which has influence over these groups, we will be successful in maintaining our security,” he said in a wide-ranging interview with The Washington Post in Davos, Switzerland, where he is attending the World Economic Forum.

The foreign minister accused PTI chief Imran Khan of giving TTP a place to hide. He said that Khan not only released the TTP prisoners in Pakistan’s custody but also engaged in dialogue with them.“He [Khan] has always been ideologically sympathetic to their point of view,” the foreign minister added.

In response to a question about whether Pakistan had hoped that the new Afghan government would act against the TTP, FM Bilawal said: “Our hope — and in fact, their agreement — was that their soil would not be used for terrorism. We do hope to cooperate with them to deal with terrorists that are a concern to us.”

Echoing the sentiments of his recent condemnation of the attack on Kabul’s foreign ministry, he reiterated that both Pakistan and Afghanistan were victims of terrorism. The FM stressed that the two governments would have to work together to counter terrorism.

During the interview, Bilawal also touched upon the topic of his mother’s assassination and said that if former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007, had lived, both Pakistan and the entire region would have been a completely different place.

He told the publication that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had always aimed for Pakistan to be a democratic country, which he termed as the “only way” to deal with extremism and terrorism rampant in the country.

Also asked whether he could become the prime minister this year, FM Bilawal said that he would have to win an election first.

“Obviously,” he added, “my party will be hoping that we win. The PPP has its own manifesto, and given the challenges that Pakistan faces, I believe that our manifesto speaks best to the country’s key problems, such as inflation and unemployment.

“However, I don’t believe that any one party will be able to solve all of Pakistan’s problems. If [our party wins the most votes], I will seek to form a government as prime minister and be willing to work in tandem with the other parties.”

Bilawal told Anadolu Agency on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, “We’re not interested in launching a cross-border operation, nor would we want to advocate for more military intervention after what we’ve already seen was the longest war.”

The foreign minister reiterated Pakistan’s demand for the Taliban to weed out terrorist organisations and offered to help in any such efforts. “The most legitimate and the most viable way for us to address the issue of terrorism will be for the interim government in Afghanistan to take appropriate action against these groups,” he said. “What we will prefer is for the interim government of Afghanistan to take action against terrorists that may be in their country, and we are ready and willing to help them increase their capacity and ability to deal with that threat.”