Talks with TTP couldn't move forward despite Afghan Taliban help: Pakistan Interior Minister

Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Friday said that talks with the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) couldn't move forward despite the Afghanistan Taliban help, local media reported.

Briefing the Senate Committee on Home Affairs, Rashid said the ruling Imran Khan-led government had abandoned the idea of dialogue with the TTP due to the conditions put by the banned outfit, The News International reported.

Rashid said the Afghan Taliban had initially held talks with the TTP and tried to persuade them to settle issues with Pakistan, but the talks could not move ahead as there were things that could not be accepted, the Pakistani newspaper reported.

The interior minister further stated that there were people of the outlawed TTP in the border areas of Afghanistan and many groups may have come together, adding that two of their terrorists had been killed in Islamabad recently, The News International reported.

Earlier, Rashid said that his ministry had alerted all armed forces in the country, asking them to stay vigilant. This high alert comes following the blast in Lahore's Anarkali area that led to the death of three people and injury to 26, Dawn reported.

Rashid further stated that a "surge in the wave [of terrorism]" had been observed in the country in the recent past, with terrorism incidents rising by around "35 per cent" since August 15. "But this cannot bring down our nation, morale, spirit and armed forces," he added.

Meanwhile, Rashid blamed "small remnants of groups" defeated by the Taliban for creating an "atmosphere of terror" in Pakistan, Dawn reported.

( With inputs from ANI )

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