Islamabad: Giving failed talks with the Pakistani Taliban another chance, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today set up four-member committee to oversee peace parleys with the banned militant group but made it clear that they would have to stop attacks that have seen a surge recently.
“This situation cannot be tolerated anymore. Peace is not a choice but is our destination. Peace would be established at any cost,” he said addressing the National Assembly.
“Terror attacks should be stopped. Terror and talks cannot go hand in hand together,” he said adding that all arms of government are on the same page over this.
“We want to give peace another chance,” he said. He said that the All Party Conference had decided talks will be held.
“We invited them to talks...so that they could not play with civilian life and property. So that they follow the constitution. Unfortunately, they did not heed our plea and continued to target security forces and civilians.”
He said the nation had been suffering from terrorism for the last 14 years because of decisions taken by an “illegal” administration.
