ISLAMABAD: A high-powered Afghan Taliban commission tasked with addressing Pakistan’s concerns about banned militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has formally commenced its proceedings, according to a report published in the Voice of America.
The three-member commission was made recently on the directives of Taliban chief Hibatullah Akhundzada to look into Islamabad’s complaints that the TTP is using Afghan soil to plot cross-border terrorist attacks.
“TTP leaders are being warned [by the Afghan Taliban commission] to settle their issues with Pakistan and return to the country along with their families in exchange for a possible amnesty by the Pakistani government,” read the report.
The commission will also put pressure on anti-Pakistan elements to stop their subversive activities against the country, the report said.
However, Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban have not issued any formal statement on the development, read the report.
Pakistan takes Taliban on board over TTP issue
Earlier, on August 17, Federal Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed had said that Pakistan had taken the Afghan Taliban on board over the TTP issue, hoping that Afghanistan’s soil will not be used against Pakistan.
The interior minister was responding on Geo Pakistan to reports of the release of key TTP commanders from jails in Afghanistan, as the Taliban took over the country.
Maulana Faqir Mohammad, the former deputy chief of the TTP, was also released as the Taliban took hold of the capital on Sunday.
“The outlawed TTP and Daesh militants are present in the mountainous ranges of Nooristan and Nighar,” he had said. “We have taken the Taliban on-board over the TTP issue and told them that Pakistan will not allow its soil to be used against Afghanistan and it hopes Afghanistan won’t allow its soil to be used against Pakistan.”
When pressed further, the minister had said he couldn’t disclose to the media what Pakistan has discussed with the Taliban.
“Previously, Pakistan was supporting the US due to which the TTP and the Taliban were on the same page. That is not the case now,” he had noted.
