'Pakistan holds secret talks with Taliban'

Pakistani information minister says the Islamabad government has held several rounds of secret talks with the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its associated militant groups operating across the violence wracked country.

Å“Unofficial talks between the government side and Taliban are in progress,” the daily Dawn newspaper quoted Information Minister Pervez Rashid as saying on Saturday.

Å“We have to rid the country of the menace of terrorism for which all options would be utilized,” Rashid added.

The remarks come two days after Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, a close ally of TTP, assured Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of his every possible assistance in negotiating a peace deal with the outlawed militant group.

Sharif has been an advocate of peace talks with Taliban militants since his election campaign which ended in his May victory.

In May, a Taliban spokesman was quoted as saying that the militants might agree on a truce if Sharif and his party showed seriousness in holding the peace talks.

However, pro-Taliban militants withdrew their offer of peace talks to the new government after a US terror drone killed their deputy chief, Wali-ur-Rahman Mehsud.

Militants have carried out numerous attacks against security forces as well as civilians, and managed to spread their influence in various regions of the country, despite frequent offensives by the Pakistani Army.

Pakistani security forces have launched several operations in the troubled northwest and southwest in a bid to flush out militants from the tribal zone.

Despite the Pakistani government’s operations against pro-Taliban militants and associated groups, they have been able to spread their influence in various regions of the country.

Thousands of Pakistanis have lost their lives in bombings and other militant attacks since 2001 when Pakistan entered an alliance with the US on the so-called war on terror, according to local media.

JR/SS