Hardline cleric not tasked for talks with Pakistani Taliban

The Pakistan government today said Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-S chief Samiul Haq had not been asked to broker talks with militants, a day after the cleric known as the "Father of the Taliban" distanced himself from the troubled peace process.
There was a discussion with Haq "regarding cooperation to address the issue of terrorism and use his good offices in this regard and he had not been given any specific mission by the government", a government spokesman said in a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office.
It was also agreed "whom...Haq could contact whenever required", the spokesman said. "Even three weeks after the meeting, he has not informed about any progress" in efforts to contact militants, he added.

Haq, who also heads the Defa-e-Pakistan Council, said he would not carry out the task of preparing grounds for talks with the banned Taliban.
He claimed yesterday that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had tasked him in December to initiate the peace process with the militants.
Haq said after the meeting with Sharif, he had started work on his mission purely on humanitarian grounds. He claimed he obtained a "very positive response" from the Taliban.

The militants expressed their willingness to hold a meaningful dialogue with the government, he claimed.
"I conveyed the same to the Prime Minister the same night and started waiting for a mechanism and strategy from the government for holding talks...I was hoping that keeping in view the sensitivity of the issue, the Prime Minister would inform me in a day or two but despite frequent approaches there was total silence on the other side," he alleged.

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, which claimed two recent attacks that killed over 30 troops, has rejected the government's offer of talks over the past few months.