Pakistan Rules Out Foreign Pressure On Taliban Talks

Islamabad, Feb 10, IRNA -- Pakistanˈs top national security adviser, Sartaj Aziz, has said there is no foreign pressure on the country regarding talks with the Taliban. ˈThere is no foreign pressure on Pakistan. However there is internal pressure on us to restore peace,ˈ Aziz told reporters in Islamabad after he addressed a conference on Afghanistan. There has been no such pressure and we have held peace talks on several occasions, he added. He said the government has started the dialogue process with the Taliban following a parliamentary conference last year which represented the mainstream political parties. ˈThe conference had given a mandate to the government to adopt the policy of peace,ˈ the adviser said, adding that there is no other option. Aziz earlier told the conference that Taliban had ˈviolatedˈ several peace accords in the past. He said Pakistan has some internal issues that threaten the society and that is why the government has adopted such policies over the past several months to address those issues. Referring to the last month targeted strikes in North Waziristan Aziz said that the security forces launched counter attacks against the militants./end