Pakistan: Taliban criticise peace talks delay

Pakistani Taliban negotiators have condemned the failure of government representatives to meet them in Islamabad, as preliminary peace efforts got off to a chaotic start. The government side said before talks began they wanted clarification from the team named by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The two sides had been due to start charting a "roadmap" for talks. The militants have been waging an insurgency inside Pakistan since 2007. Many observers were puzzled by the government side's approach. The Taliban swiftly made clear there were to be no additions to their team, and urged the government side to begin talks and see for themselves whether the team had a mandate. There is more scepticism than hope as the government and the Pakistani Taliban prepare to hold preliminary peace talks. There are three reasons for this. First is the reluctance of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to confront the Taliban militarily despite a public wave of anger against them. Second, few analysts believe the Taliban would submit to the government's writ in areas under their control given their professed opposition to democracy and the Pakistani constitution. There are also questions over the composition of the two teams; the Taliban have refrained from naming a committee from within their own ranks, and have instead named religious figures who want Sharia (Islamic law) in the country. The government representatives are also at one remove from the administration. Both seem to be looking for short-term gains. For the government, it seems to be a way of reducing Taliban attacks in the country. For the Taliban, the motive may well be to secure the release of detained fighters and to gain time until Nato troops leave Afghanistan. Lead Taliban negotiator Sami ul-Haq told AFP news agency: "Today it has been exposed how serious the government is about talks. "They are making a joke of talks and joking with the nation. On one side they are saying they are talking to the Taliban and on the other side they are making (a) joke of these talks." He and his colleagues left Islamabad later in the day. The government's lead negotiator, Irfan Siddiqui, made clear he still expected talks to go ahead, but sought more information on the make-up of the Taliban team and how much authority it had to negotiate. "We want the talks to be meaningful... We can start as soon as we know this," he told reporters. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced the talks initiative last week, following a spate of attacks. In January more than 100 people, including many soldiers, died in Taliban attacks across the country. Thousands have been killed in recent years. As a result, many analysts had been expecting a large-scale military offensive against TTP strongholds in Pakistan's tribal areas. The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad says some in Pakistan worry that the talks will only allow the militants time to gain strength. Previous peace deals with the Pakistani Taliban have all failed. As well as Mr Siddiqui, Mr Sharif's team comprises another veteran journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai, former ambassador Rustam Shah Mohmand and a retired major from the ISI intelligence service, Amir Shah. Maulana Sami ul-Haq, known as the "Father of the Taliban", was joined by the chief cleric of Islamabad's Red Mosque, Maulana Abdul Aziz, and religious party leader Prof Ibrahim Khan. The militants want Sharia (Islamic law) to be imposed throughout Pakistan and prisoners to be freed.