Pak likely to announce Taliban peace strategy by end December

Pakistan is likely to announce the government's new strategy regarding talks with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) by the end of December, a senior interior ministry official said.

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said that the government is almost at the conclusive stage to resume talks with the TTP, the Express Tribune reports.

Swabi said that the government would remove any hurdles existing before talks with the Taliban and would press ahead with the initiative without causing any loss to the state.

However, the government wants a categorical policy statement from the United States that the drone campaign in Pakistan's tribal areas would come to a halt before they send a delegation of Ulema to the Taliban for the negotiations, ministry officials said.

The statement came a week after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said his government is still committed to the revival of proposed talks with the Taliban.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, meanwhile, discussed the resumption of dialogue with the Taliban along with the outgoing army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.