Formal talks between govt, Pak Taliban to start this week

Pakistan today said it will start formal comprehensive peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban in a couple of days, and would also release 12-13 "non-combatants" as part of confidence-building measures.
"Formal comprehensive discussion and talks will start from the next meeting. It will happen in a couple of days," Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said addressing a press conference here and stressed that there was no deadlock.
The minister said the country would come to know about the comprehensive agenda of talks after the meeting.
He also said that the government will release 12-13 non-combatants from detention as part of confidence-building measures to prepare for the next round of direct peace talks with the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Nisar had on April 5 announced the additional release besides the 19 who had already been let out.
Refusing to use the word "ceasefire", Nisar said "cessation of violence" is in place but added that the government has intelligence reports that some groups within the TTP is not to serious about the talks.

"Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan is an umbrella organisation which has about 37-39 groups under it. They would like us to believe that all groups agree with them. We leave it up to them," he said.
Nisar said groups outside the TTP were indulging in violence. He claimed that the peace talks have so far yielded positive results.

"Earlier there were 3-7 attacks on an average every day. Now there are days without any single attack. After the blast at the fruit market in Islamabad, the Taliban said that attacking innocents is un-Islamic," he said.
Nisar added that people were right when they said that Taliban targeted civilians earlier.
"But now that talks are on, TTP has come on record saying that attacks on civilians are 'haram'. We were ready to fight with them over this very same issue and now they have accepted it. This shows there has been forward movement," he said.