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Pakistani PM seeks political consensus for Taliban talks

12 March 2014 22:14 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday met a senior opposition leader, Imran Khan, to seek greater consensus for the ongoing peace dialogue with the Taliban militants, officials said, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Imran Khan, whose Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf party rules the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, who had been critical at the government's policies, lauded Nawaz Sharif's move to engage the Taliban in talks.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited Imran Khan at his residence in Islamabad and both agreed to continue the dialogue process with the Taliban.

A government negotiation team had started peace talks with the Taliban intermediaries last month which resulted in a month-long unilateral cease-fire by the Taliban. The government also suspended airstrikes on the Taliban hideouts in Waziristan tribal region.

The government has now formed another high level committee for direct talks with the Taliban that is seen as the phase of taking decisions. The committee is comprised of top government officials. A member of Imran Khan's PTI party has also been included in the committee.

"We are now entering a result-oriented phase of the dialogue and we need more consensus and understanding," Nawaz Sharif said in his meeting with Imran Khan, the PM office said.

The prime minister also appealed to the political parties outside the parliament to support his government's peace efforts.

He underlined the need for a complete consensus to root out terrorism and to restore peace, adding that it is the collective responsibility of the entire political leadership and the nation to show unity at this critical time.

The Interior Minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, briefed the opposition leader about the second phase of the dialogue and assured that the government will take him and other parties into confidence about the talks.

Imran Khan later told reporters that he and the prime minister agreed to continue the peace dialogue with the Taliban to find out a political solution to the violent extremism.