KARACHI – The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Tuesday hailed the decision of the Prime Minister Imran Khan to hold peace talks with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as it is impossible to ensure peace and prosperity without engaging militants.
All the militants should be included in the national mainstream to ensure social and economic development and the decision of the PM is a step in the right direction, it said.
Those opposing the talks are unaware of the ground realities and interested only in point-scoring as this decision was very important for the future of Pakistan, said Chairman PRW Brigadier (retd) Muhammad Aslam Khan.
He said that negotiations are not held to provide relief to TTP but to promote national interests.
History tells us that majority of insurgencies have been controlled with talks as military solutions seldom work and their life span is short, he observed.
Aslam Khan said that one hundred soldiers were killed in a day in Balochistan during Bhutto’s rule but Gen. Zia announced clemency after which quelled militancy for over two decades.
Respected leader Ajmal Khattak went to Kabul and Mir Murtaza Bhutto left Pakistan to carry out their militant activities in Pakistan but announced as well an unannounced pardon brought both of them back along with their supporters and both leaders started a peaceful life in Pakistan taking an active part in politics, he recalled.
Aslam Khan said that peace in Afghanistan was also restored through talks between the warring sides and now our government is following the suit to save precious lives, infrastructure and CPEC which is a laudable move.
He said that once TTP agreed to hold talks in the past and stopped their activities but we initiated Zarb-e-Azb claiming that militants would be wiped off in eight weeks but the aim was never achieved despite a loss of thousands of lives and billions of dollars of losses.
He said that why the politicians from the opposition supported peace deals with Punjabi Taliban, Baloch nationalists, Pashtoon nationalists and left-wing Insurgency organization Al-Zulfiqar, he questioned.
