Pakistan to seek Taliban supreme leader’s help to control TTP

Pakistan has decided to seek the intervention of the secretive supreme leader of Afghanistan's Taliban to control the militant organizations in Pakistan after a suicide bombing killed scores of police in a mosque, officials said Saturday.

During an Apex Committee meeting in Peshawar, the civil and military leadership held the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an affiliate of the Pakistani Taliban and the most notorious militant outfit in the area, responsible for the suicide bomb blast in Peshawar this week and decided to take up the matter with the interim Afghan government at the highest level, with a clear message that Pakistan would no longer tolerate cross-border terrorism, as per reports.

Held at the governor's house in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) region’s capital, Peshawar, and presided over by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the gathering was called in the wake of the deadly terrorist attack that has rocked the country, as it claimed the lives of more than 100.

A senior Pakistani police official in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province where Monday's blast took place told AFP the Kabul delegation would hold "talks with the top brass".

"When we say top brass, it means... Afghan Taliban Chief Hibatullah Akhundzada," he said on condition of anonymity.

The meeting was attended by Army Chief Gen Syed Asim Munir, DG ISI Lt-Gen Nadeem Anjum, Peshawar Corps Commander, DGMO, and other military officials as well as senior cabinet members, chief ministers of the four provinces, Gilgilt-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The attendees also questioned that how the suicide bomber managed to enter the high-security zone.

The meeting concluded that the TTP, indeed, carried out the attack but because of fear of backlash from the Afghan Taliban, it did not accept the responsibility.

The All Parties Conference (APC), where the ultimate choices on this matter will be made, will hear the discussions of the meeting before making any final decisions. It was determined during the meeting that discussions would be held with neighboring countries to eradicate terrorism.

ME