Will work with Afghan Taliban government to maintain Pakistan’s security, says foreign minister
WASHINGTON:
Accusing former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government of “appeasing” the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said that Pakistan’s new leadership—both political and military—will not talk to terrorists who don’t respect the country’s laws and constitution.
“I am confident that if we can work with the Afghan interim government, which has influence over these groups, we will be successful in maintaining our security,” he said in a wide-ranging interview with The Washington Post’s senior Associate Editor, Lally Weymouth, in Davos.
The foreign minister, who is currently attending the World Economic Forum, accused Imran Khan of giving the TTP a place to hide.
“Not only did he release their prisoners who were in Pakistan’s custody, but also engaged in a dialogue with them,” he said. “He (Imran Khan) has always been ideologically sympathetic to their point of view.”
To a question whether Pakistan had hoped that the new Afghan government would act against the TTP, FM Bilawal said, “Our hope, and in fact their agreement, was that their soil would not be used for terrorism. We do hope to cooperate with them to deal with terrorists that are a concern to us.
