Complexity In Negotiations.

The recently reported 'secret' negotiations between the federal government and the banned militant outfit, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which is based in Afghanistan have surprised many. Federal Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb on June 3, 2022, acknowledged that Pakistan was negotiating a peace deal with the TTP, and the Afghan Taliban were acting as mediators between the two sides, while Pakistan welcomed the ceasefire announced by the TTP which extended it for an indefinite period after the Pakistani tribal jirga visited Kabul and held talks with the TTP leadership. Sources point out that the TTP has put forward several demands which include the reversal of the merger of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which rid the tribal people of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), a relic of the colonial era, and brought the population into the mainstream. The TTP also wants Pakistan's laws and courts to be replaced by Sharia laws enforced by Sharia courts in Malakand followed by other tribal areas, monetary compensation, and allowing the TTP group to keep their arms. But the Pakistani side wants them to lay down their arms and has also refused to restore the status of FATA.

It is notable that unlike other countries' war against terrorism, Pakistan's Armed Forces displayed unbelievable progress through the military operation Zarb-e-Azb-which started on June 15, 2014, against the militants in North Waziristan Agency and afterward extended to other tribal areas-has almost achieved its objectives, while the military operation Radd-ul-Fasaad continues successfully. Addressing the Defence Day and Martyrs Day ceremony on September 6, 2017, Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa stated: 'The country passed through a very difficult phase during the past two decades...Our forces and nation have rendered sacrifices in the war against terrorism...Our houses, schools, and leaders were attacked. Efforts were made to weaken us internally.' Noting that more than 70,000 Pakistanis were martyred and injured in this war (till 2017), the army chief vowed to collectively fight this menace of terrorism. Earlier, showing the progress of the Zarb-e-Azb, the then Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Raheel Sharif said: 'Terrorists have been cleared from their strongholds in North Waziristan and Khyber Agency and the fight now is moving into the last few pockets close to the Afghan border.' He laid emphasis on the 'continuation of operations till the elimination of the...