Refusing to use the word “ceasefire”, Nisar said “cessation of violence” is in place but added that the government has intelligence reports that some groups within the TTP is not to serious about the talks.
“Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan is an umbrella organisation which has about 37-39 groups under it. They would like us to believe that all groups agree with them. We leave it up to them,” he said.
Nisar said groups outside the TTP were indulging in violence. He claimed that the peace talks have so far yielded positive results.
“Earlier there were 3-7 attacks on an average every day. Now there are days without any single attack. After the blast at the fruit market in Islamabad, the Taliban said that attacking innocents is un-Islamic,” he said.
Nisar added that people were right when they said that Taliban targeted civilians earlier.
“But now that talks are on, TTP has come on record saying that attacks on civilians are ‘haram'.
We were ready to fight with them over this very same issue and now they have accepted it. This shows there has been forward movement,” he said.
On the issue of detainees, he said the Taliban has sought the release of only non-combatants and not fighters.
“I wonder how can anyone imagine that we would be releasing Taliban fighters. We have released 19 non-combatants from the Mehsud tribe. We would be releasing another 12-13 soon,” he said.
