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Senior Pak cleric distances himself form Taliban peace talks

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Press Trust of India Peshawar
Last Updated : Jan 22 2014 | 10:23 PM IST
A Pakistani cleric, known as the "Father of the Taliban", today distanced himself from a government-brokered peace talks with the militants, expressing his dismay over air strikes that killed 50 terrorists in the restive North Waziristan tribal agency.
Maulana Samiul Haq, who heads the Difah-e-Pakistan Council, said he would not carry out the task of preparing ground for the talks with the militant group. In December, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had entrusted Haq of initiating the peace process with the Pakistani Taliban.
Haq said after his first meeting with Sharif, he had started work on his mission purely on humanitarian ground, for the protection to lives of innocent people and integrity of the country.
He claimed that he obtained a "very positive response" from the other side (Pakistani Taliban).
The Taliban has expressed its willingness to hold meaningful dialogues with the government side.
"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.

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Yesterday, Pakistani combat jets pounded militant bases in the lawless tribal region, including the home of Taliban commander Adnan Rashid, and killed 50 terrorists in retaliation for a string of attacks on security forces.
Haq described the air strikes as a "national tragedy".
During such strikes "military personnel were being martyred while on the other side innocent civilian are killed. Military operation is no solution to the problem except table talks which must be given preference", he said.
"Therefore, in this extremely dangerous situation, I want to detach myself from the talks process. I had taken the responsibility for the sake of the country and the nation but I find no seriousness on the other side," Haq said.

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First Published: Jan 22 2014 | 10:23 PM IST

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