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An eight-member delegation of Pakistani ulema, led by a Pakistani cleric Mufti Taqi Usman, reached Kabul on Monday in a bid to persuade Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to further extend their ceasefire with Islamabad.
Senior Taliban officials and Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan Mansour Ahmad Khan received the delegation at the Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, the Dawn reported. Head of Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia Qari Hanif Jalandhari and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) Senator Talha Mahmood are also part of the delegation. Sources said that senior officials briefed members of the delegation in Islamabad before their departure for Kabul. The ulema would also meet TTP leaders during their stay in Kabul and would try to convince them to soften their stance and extend the ceasefire. The proscribed organization's commanders, including their chief Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, are in the Afghan capital for talks with the Pakistani officials. Sources said the ulema would also seek assistance from senior members of the interim Taliban government to pressurize the TTP into making the ceasefire effective and softening their pre-conditions for talks. One of the main demands of the outfit is the reversal of the merger of erstwhile FATA with the settled areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, something that the government has already termed 'non-negotiable'. "Our demands are very clear and especially the reversal of FATA with KP is our primary demand which the group cannot back down from," said Noor Wali Mehsud, during an interview with a YouTuber in Kabul in June, the Dawn reported. Pakistan's government and TTP have been holding peace talks for a long time to negotiate on permanently halting cross-border attacks from Afghanistan. Last month, a 57-member jirga of notable tribal leaders visited Kabul to negotiate with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) but it returned to Pakistan without any major breakthrough over the group's demand for the reversal of FATA's merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Following the Jirga, the Afghan Taliban announced that the negotiation between Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Pakistani government had concluded with an agreement on an indefinite ceasefire, the Dawn reported. Despite this, Pakistan witnessed frequent attacks on its security forces, particularly in the volatile Waziristan districts. The Afghan Taliban are responsible for most insurgent attacks in Afghanistan, which follow an established pattern of regular low-level ambush and hit-and-run attacks, coupled with periodic high-profile attacks. The TTP has carried out some of the deadliest attacks inside Pakistan in recent years. Although it is not directly affiliated with the Afghan Taliban but pledges allegiance to them. (ANI)
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