50-member TTP Jirga to visit Kabul for peace talks with Pakistan

Islamabad [Pakistan], May 31 (ANI): The peace effort between Pakistan and the proscribed terror outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) gather pace as a 50-member jirga of notable tribal leaders is due in Kabul tomorrow (Wednesday).
The News International citing jirga members informed that the members will extend peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban based in Afghanistan. Some jirga members were summoned to Peshawar and briefed on the reconciliation process, reported Geo News.
Former senator Maulana Saleh Shah will preside over the jirga. The jirga consists of tribal elders from South Waziristan, North Waziristan, Orakzai, Kurram, Khyber, Mohmand, and Bajaur, as well as the Malakand Division.
Public representatives, including former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor Engineer Shaukatullah Khan, Senator Dost Mohammad Khan Mehsud, Senator Hilal Mohmand, GG Jamal, etc, will be present, reported Geo News.
"This was the second meeting between members of the jirga and senior security officials in Peshawar," one member of the jirga informed The News on the condition of anonymity.
Engineer Shaukatullah Khan, former governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the jirga member told The News that nothing had been agreed with the Taliban, saying he would first meet with leaders of the Pakistani Taliban.
He said they would prefer the Taliban to lay down arms, return home and live peacefully in Pakistan. He didn't confirm reports that the previous status of the erstwhile tribal areas would be restored and the merger with KP be withdrawn, 60 per cent of the Pakistan army troops would be pulled out of the tribal districts, and the Taliban would return to Pakistan along with arms and ammunition.
Another member of the jirga, on condition of anonymity, said they would be meeting senior Taliban leaders, including the chief of the banned TTP, Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, etc, reported Geo News.
He said the Afghan Taliban would facilitate the peace process. According to the jirga members, some of the militant leaders had initially refused to participate in the peace talks with Pakistan, but the Afghan Taliban had made it clear to all the Pakistani Taliban factions that any individual or group not willing to join the negotiations would need to leave Afghanistan.
"I think there is no option for the militant factions to stay away from the peace talks with the Pakistan government. If talks with the TTP succeed, then all of them will return to Pakistan and will start a peaceful life in their respective areas," said the jirga member.
The TTP, commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban, is a banned terrorist organisation based along the Afghan-Pakistan border.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council report has warned that TTP posed a threat to Pakistan as it is focused on a long-term campaign against the Pakistani state with its several thousand fighters in Afghanistan, according to Dawn citing the 13th report of the UNSC Monitoring Team on Afghanistan.
According to the report, TTP constituted the largest component of foreign terrorist fighters in Afghanistan, with their number estimated to be several thousand. (ANI)