Who are Muslim Khan and Mahmood Khan of TTP?
Muslim Khan hails from Swat in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. He is known as a key leader within the TTP. He was also associated with the TTP as a spokesman. Mahmood Khan also comes from Swat and was known as a key commander in the TTP for that region. The two were arrested by security forces in September 2009 during an operation from their Mingora headquarters in Swat. The government of Pakistan had set a bounty of Rs 10 million for each of them.
TTP and government negotiations
Peace talks between the government of Pakistan and the banned TTP have been going on in Afghanistan for the past two months. The TTP had declared a 10-day ceasefire on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr in view of the talks and the ceasefire was later extended for 15 days. It is now being reported that the government of Pakistan and the TTP have announced that the ceasefire will continue indefinitely. According to reports, the two sides have decided to continue talks until a solution is found. But the government of Pakistan is completely silent on these talks.
What are the reasons for the silence of the government of Pakistan on peace talks?
Rasool Dawar, a Peshawar-based journalist who has been reporting on the Taliban for the past decade, says that the Pakistani government is completely silent on the talks, while there are reports from the Taliban that progress is being made. Rasool Dawar says the news coming from Taliban sources is that Pakistan has not yet agreed to three conditions, including ending the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (ex-FATA) being integrated into KP province, complete withdrawal of troops from the tribal areas and return of Taliban with weapons to the tribal areas. On the other hand, there are reports that a general amnesty for the Taliban leadership and the termination of cases against them are demands on which progress has been made between the two sides.
Why do the Taliban want a military withdrawal from the tribal districts?
Former diplomat Rustam Shah Mohmand, who has been a part of the peace talks in the past, told TFT-NayaDaur that the TTP wants a military withdrawal from the tribal districts, and this is also the demand of most of the people living in the tribal districts. The main reason for this demand is that the Taliban want to raise their voice for the demands of the people, so that if they return, people will not only look at them favorably but also stand by their manifesto. On the other hand, he says that the war has taken a heavy toll on the population in general and they are not eager to have the Taliban return.
What are the sentences given to Muslim Khan and Mehmood Khan by the military courts?
In 2016, a Pakistani military court sentenced Muslim Khan to death for killing 31 civilians and security personnel. In the same year, Mahmood Khan was sentenced by a military court to 20 years in prison for kidnapping Chinese engineers for ransom.
Is there any chance of successful negotiations?
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Farhatullah Babar told TFT-NayaDaur that the reports of an amnesty by the President of Pakistan to the terrorists, if true, are very worrying because these people have been involved in the killing of security forces and ordinary Pakistanis. For this, they have been sentenced by a regular court. “From day one, we have been demanding that the details of the negotiations with the TTP be brought to the notice of Parliament. It is very worrying for the state to negotiate, without taking Parliament into confidence, with people who do not accept Pakistan’s constitution.”
Journalist Rasool Dawar says that looking at the whole process of negotiations, it seems that these will not succeed. The main reason, according to him, is that the TTP is feeling more secure after the return of the Afghan Taliban to power in Kabul. “They are not in favour of negotiations and want to continue the war,” he opines.
It should be noted that the Haqqani Network is playing a key role in these talks and there are reports that former DG ISI and current Corps Commander Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed had also visited Kabul in this regard and participated in the talks. But the Army's public relations office has not yet confirmed this.
What is the significance of the demands of the TTP?
Former diplomat Rustam Shah Mohmand also agrees that the talks do not seem to be succeeding because it is impossible for the government of Pakistan to fulfill the demands of the Taliban. The demands, in his view, include the return of missing persons, a military evacuation, a return of the Taliban and compensation for the slain TTP personnel. “These seem impossible to fulfill, and even if they could be made possible, it will take a long time,” he says.