Attacks may harm Taliban talks: Pakistan peace negotiators

Pakistani peace negotiators Tuesday said that terror attacks after the Taliban ceasefire could harm the dialogue process.

The negotiators met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and reviewed the status of the talks following a deadly suicide attack on a court in Islamabad that killed 11 people Monday, Xinhua quoted the PM office as saying.

It was the first meeting after the Taliban declared a month-long ceasefire Saturday that was followed by the government's decision to suspend airstrikes against the militants in Waziristan tribal region.

The attack on Islamabad court and three other recent bombings in Khyber tribal region, which killed 15 security personnel, cast doubt on the Taliban ceasefire.

The Taliban, however, has denied involvement in the Islamabad attack.

The prime minister told the negotiators that establishing peace and stability is the first priority of the government and efforts would be made at every level for the realisation of this objective, a statement from the PM office said.

During the meeting, the negotiating team presented proposals for an effective future strategy.

Earlier, the government negotiating committee met in Islamabad to review the tragic incidents of Islamabad and Khyber Agency following announcement of ceasefire by the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

"The committee declared that continuation of such incidents after announcement of ceasefire would harm the dialogue process," the statement said.

A member of the government negotiation team, Rahimullah Yousafzai, said the meeting decided to continue the dialogue process with the Taliban intermediaries despite the terror attacks to find out a peaceful solution.