ISLAMABAD
The Taliban has named its senior leader, Qari Shakeel, as head of a nine-member consultative body to supervise proposed negotiations with the Pakistani government in an effort to end a decade-long war that has killed thousands.
Shahidullah Shahid, a spokesperson for the powerful Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) - a conglomerate of various Taliban groups in Pakistan - announced the formation of the political Shura (the consultative body) while talking to local journalists by telephone from an undisclosed location on Sunday evening.
Another senior TTP commander, Azam Tariq Mehsud will be Shakeel's deputy, while other members include Shahidullah himself, Omer Khalid Khurasani, Khalid Haqqani, and others.
The TTP on Saturday named a five-member team to negotiate with the government's team, an announcement immediately welcomed by Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
The TTP team includes cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan.
Jamaat-e-Islami Provincial Head Ibrahim Khan, one of the country's two mainstream religious parties with the JUI, confirmed his nomination as a member of the negotiating team.
"I will play whatever role I could for peace in the country," Khan, a former member of the country's senate, told Anadolu Agency (AA).
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told reporters that his government welcomed the announcement of the Taliban's team. However, he sought clarification from the TTP leadership vis-a-vis mandate and the authority of its team.
"Our team has a full mandate and the authority to negotiate (with the Taliban). We want to know if their team has the same authority," Nisar said. "We also want to know if the Taliban will abide by the decisions of their team."
Shahid said that the newly announced 9-member political Shura would soon meet the members of his organization's committee to finalize the issue of their authority in talks with government negotiators.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who nominated a four-member government committee to negotiate with the Taliban, has already given them an "open mandate".
Sharif, who is serving his third term as prime minister, offered the Taliban a chance to negotiate in his first address to the nation after his re-election.
Initial contacts were reportedly made between the two sides. However, before the talks began, a US drone strike killed Hakeemullah Mehsud in North Waziristan along with his two aides on November 1, 2013, scuttling the peace process.
The Taliban suspended all contacts with the government and announced that they would avenge the death of their leader in the form of attacks on security forces and government officials. Some 40 soldiers have been killed and over 100 injured in 8 terrorist attacks in North Waziristan since November 1, 2013.
By Aamir Latif
englishnews@aa.com.tr
