Baku-APA. Pakistani Taliban chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, has rejected calls from the government for surrendering arms but said will ready to talk, local media reported Friday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
In a video message sent to local TV channels, Mehsud said the Taliban believe in talks but will not accept the government condition to disarm the fighters.
Mehsud in the 40-minute video was shown sitting between his deputy Wali-ur-Rehman Mehsood and spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan.
Pakistan's Dunya and Geo TV channels showed the video which they said was delivered to their offices in northwest of the country.
The video was released a day after another Taliban leader offered a conditional truce to the government that was quickly rejected by the country's Interior Minister, Rehman Malik.
The government has not yet shown reaction to Mehsud's latest video message. However, the government had been asking the Taliban to surrender arms before any talks.
Mehsud,speaking in his native Pashto language, described demand for laying down arms as a hoax and also accused the Pakistani government of breaking peace agreements with the militants in the past. He added that the government cannot take independent decisions in view of pressure from the United States.
The Taliban chief's video was released following series of attacks in the northwest that also included the killing of a senior provincial minister and assault on an airbase in Peshawar.
He said Taliban will keep on attacks on the ethnic Pashtoon Awami National Party(ANP), which rules in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The slain minister, Bashir Ahmed Bilour belonged to the ANP, which supports military operation against the Taliban.
He rejected the democratic system and termed it as un-Islamic, adding that the Taliban war is not aimed at targeting a particular party but it is against the non-Islamic system and also those who support this system.
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