Pakistan government should hold negotiations with the Taliban as part of efforts to tackle terrorism as even the US has indicated its willingness to talk to militants, top opposition leader and former premier Nawaz Sharif has said.
"If Washington says it is prepared to talk to the Taliban who are willing to listen, then a similar initiative should also come from Islamabad. We should not only see what decision they (the Western countries) will make about our fate. We should decide our own fate," said Sharif, the chief of main opposition PML-N.
"We have this problem at home. Why don't we take initiatives? Why should we wait for others' initiatives?" he told a news conference at his home here last evening.
Asked about failed peace attempts in the past, Sharif, a two-time former premier, said: "Peace is the priority and for that, ways can be found."
His comments came two days after a pair of suicide bombers struck the Data Darbar sufi shrine here, killing 45 people and injuring over 200 others. There is considerable pressure on the PML-N-led government in Punjab to crack down on militants based in the southern part of the province.
The PML-N is perceived as being soft on pro-Taliban militants and provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah openly campaigned with leaders of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba terror group during by-polls in Punjab earlier this year.
However, Sharif dispelled the impression that the PML-N is soft on or has links with militants, saying there would not have been terrorist attacks in Lahore and other parts of Punjab if this were true.
He said there was no safe haven for the Taliban in southern Punjab. "It is our duty to eliminate terrorism wherever it is breeding. But we have no evidence of terrorists being present in southern Punjab. We do not see them there," he said.
The PML-N chief also said he was opposed to the use of the term "Punjabi Taliban" to refer to militants operating in the province. "Terrorists are just terrorists and have no boundaries and territories," he said.
Sharif claimed that terrorism plaguing Pakistan is a result of policies made by federal governments in the past and that the current Pakistan People's Party-led coalition at the centre has not been able to find remedies.
The federal government could have turned to Parliament and politicians for initiatives to be launched to tackle terrorism instead of waiting for directives from Washington, London and other Western capitals, he said.
The government should consult other stakeholders, including foreign countries concerned about the regional security situation and remove their concerns but "it must take its own initiatives", Sharif said.
At the same time, the government should frame a national policy which ensures that the country does not "lay down its weapons before terrorists or allow them to hold hostage a nuclear power," he said.
"Terrorism will not be accepted at any cost, we will not lay down our arms to the terrorists but at the same time we must usher in peace," he said.
He complained that federal agencies under the interior ministry, including the Intelligence Bureau, did not share information with the Punjab government.
He said that he did not want to enter any kind of "blame game" but it was the responsibility of the federal government to share vital information with provinces.
