The Pakistan Government is set to hold direct talks with the Taliban next week in a bid to accelerate the peace process.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan announced that the government is setting up a state committee to hold the dialogue aimed at ending the Pakistani Taliban's seven-year insurgency, which has claimed thousands of lives.
According to Dawn News, the dialogue process resumed on Wednesday following a two-week suspension after the militants killed 23 kidnapped soldiers.
Khan made the announcement after mediators representing the government and Taliban insurgents called for higher-level talks between the two sides following a breakfast meeting hosted by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the report said.
On the Taliban side, chief negotiator Maulana Samiul Haq said his team was "satisfied with the round of talks with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif," the report added.
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