TTP peace talks: Fazl hails formation of grand tribal jirga

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman late Friday said that formation of an authoritative grand tribal “Jirga” has passed a message to world community that serious peace initiatives has got underway for bringing durable peace in FATA and KP by holding talks with the militant leadership.
The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief was briefing media representatives along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Engineer Shaukatullah after chairing a meeting of the 87 members grand tribal Jirga at the governor house.
Fazlur Rehman said the national leadership has given unanimous mandate to the tribal Jirga for holding talks with the Pakistani Taliban leadership, who according to him have welcomed the declaration of the JUI-F sponsored All Parties Conference (APC), held in Islamabad on Thursday.
He thanked the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leadership for giving positive response to the peace efforts and said that the Taliban leaders demonstrated sagacity by welcoming formation of the grand tribal Jirga.
In response to a question about giving the jirga a go ahead, Governor Shaukatullah said the national leadership had already granted mandate to the Jirga for making peace deal with the militants.
He said the governor house would work as liaison office between the Jirga members and the TTP leadership.
On this occasion, the governor also announced establishment of Shuhada Trust for facilitating the affected families of terrorism victims. He also announced a donation of Rs 10 million for the trust.
In reply to a question, the governor said he would seek the consent of President Asif Ali Zardari before the Jirga set out for peace efforts in Waziristan. However, on this occasion, Maulana Fazlur Rehman added that the military leadership would support the peace initiative taken up by the elected representatives.
When asked about the future strategy of Jirga, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said that the Jirga members would now sit to deliberate upon chalking out line of action as to how, when and where to hold talks with the militants.

Source: DawnNews