Anti-Taliban all-parties meet calls for halting peace dialogue

An anti-Taliban all-parties conference here today called on the Pakistan government to stop all negotiations with the banned group and pay Rs 50,000 as blood money to innocent people killed by militants.
"More than 50,000 innocent people have been killed by the Taliban and their families deserve to be paid blood money of at least Rupees 50,000 each," a joint communique issued after the all-parties meeting said.
The conference called on the government to stop all negotiations with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and announced to hold a countrywide anti-Taliban day on February 28.
The conference was attended by some mainstream religious and political parties.

The joint statement said that any form of support or sympathy shown to the Taliban should be declared a crime by the state.
"Try the Taliban for their crimes against the Pakistani nation under Islamic laws," the all-parties conference demanded.

The statement said that the national anti-Taliban day will show the world that the Pakistani nation is against militancy and terrorism.
Meanwhile, Chief of Muttahida Qaumi Movement Altaf Hussain caused a stir by announcing that if the government cannot protect the people from the Taliban, the army should take over.
The government suspended a fragile peace process with the TTP last week after a Taliban faction executed 23 troops taken hostage in 2010. After the talks were put on hold, combat jets and helicopter gunships targeted militant hideouts in the restive northwest, killing nearly 100 militants.

The TTP has been waging a a bloody insurgency that killed some 40,000 people since 2007.
The government has said that talks can now only continue if the Taliban announce an unconditional ceasefire, a demand rejected by the banned outfit.