Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan declares ‘end’ to ceasefire with govt

ISLAMABAD: The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) declared an end to a month-long ceasefire with the Pakistani government, accusing it of breaching terms including a prisoner release accord and the formation of negotiating committees, confirmed Reuters.

Read more: Pakistan bids to quell rise in TTP attacks

Last month’s ceasefire, arranged with the help of the Afghan Taliban, was set to run until Thursday with the possibility of extending only if both parties agreed.

It was the latest in a series of attempts to broker a settlement to end a conflict that has killed thousands. 

The Afghan Taliban’s shock overthrow of the Western-backed government in August gave the talks fresh impetus, said the Reuters report, but the TTP accused Islamabad of failing to respect the ceasefire agreement.

A statement issued by the TTP late on Thursday evening said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had not released more than 100 prisoners as promised and had not appointed negotiating teams to conduct talks. 

It also said security forces had carried out raids while the ceasefire was in force.

“Now let the Pakistani people decide whether it is the TTP or the Pakistani army and establishment that is not abiding by the agreements?” the group said in a statement according to Reuters.

“In these circumstances, it is not possible to advance the ceasefire,” it said.

Prime Minister Khan announced in October that the government was in talks with the TTP for the first time since 2014, facilitated by Afghanistan’s new leaders.

Both sides announced a truce until at least December 9, while they hammer out an agreement.

Neither side had openly divulged details about the negotiating points. But the release of about 100 TTP fighters was a key demand for the militants to agree to a ceasefire, a source from the group had told AFP.

A look at banned TTP’s history 

The TTP — a separate movement that shares a common history with the Afghan Taliban — plunged the country into a period of horrific violence after forming in 2007.

TTP has multiple factions, some of which also swore allegiance to Al-Qaeda. It has some 4,000 to 6,000 fighters, down from 20,000 at its peak, according to estimates from the Pakistani authorities.

TTP carried out hundreds of suicide bomb attacks and kidnappings across the country, seizing control of border regions and imposing a wrong radical version of Islamic law in the territory where it held sway.

It was a TTP gunman who opened fire on schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai in her native Swat before she won the Nobel Peace Prize.

The group was also linked to the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Read more: LHC acquits convict sentenced for raising funds for TTP

But it was not until a gun massacre of nearly 150 children at Army Public School (APS) Peshawar in 2014 that the military finally crushed the movement and forced its fighters to retreat into Afghanistan.

Their top leadership was wiped out by military operations backed by the US drone strikes after 2014.