Pak cleric says 'easier to communicate with army sitting in caves than those in Islamabad' for peace talks

A Pakistani cleric with close ties to the Taliban has said it was easier to contact and communicate with 'those sitting in caves' than those sitting in Islamabad.

The comments from Maulana Samiul Haq, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam political party, known as JUI-S, came as a member of the Taliban negotiating committee said the Pakistan Army and the Taliban were the real parties to the peace talks.

Professor Ibrahim Ibrahim during an address to a tribal jirga in Peshawar, also attended by Haq, said the persisting conflict could not be solved by any army operation or militant attacks, but only through peaceful negotiations, Dawn News reports.

According to the report, both Ibrahim and Sami gave assurances that the Taliban would accept the constitution of Pakistan.

Samiul Haq added that he had advised the Taliban to act patiently in the peace talk process, and urged both the sides not to delay the matter of peace talks.

He also appealed to both the parties to proceed with the peace talks.