The Pakistan government has reportedly said that peace talks with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) will not be 'open ended' and that it will consider alternatives to deal with the militant group if talks failed.
According to The Express Tribune, the decision was taken during the recent meeting of the National Security Committee, which agreed to give peace a chance despite TTP's announcement to call off their 40-day ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the Army has expressed concerns that stretching peace talks would only benefit the TTP and limit the state's options.
A security official said that it appears that the militants want to remain engaged with the dialogue process till the drawdown of foreign forces from Afghanistan.
He argued that the militants feel if they can stretch the talks that far it will certainly make it difficult for the government to launch a meaningful operation against them, adding that an effort to preempt TTP's strategy, the ongoing talks would have to be 'time barred'.
