ISLAMABAD -UNS- Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Monday called off the ceasefire agreed with the government in June and ordered its militants to stage attacks across the country, according to a statement from the group.
“As military operations are ongoing against mujahideen in different areas … so it is imperative for you to carry out attacks wherever you can in the entire country,” the statement said while addressing its militants.
The decision, it stated, was taken after “a series of non-stop attacks were launched by the military organisations on mujahideens in Baanu’s Laki Marwat district”.
The banned group said it had repeatedly warned the people of Pakistan and “continued to be patient so that the negotiation process is not sabotaged at least by us.”
“But the army and intelligence agencies did not stop and continued the attacks,now our retaliatory attacks will also start across the country,” the statement claimed.
The government and intelligence agencies are yet to comment on the matter.
Talks between Pakistani officials and the TTP first started in October last year but broke down in December.
These later resumed in May this year. The process, however, broke down once again due to a deadlock on the revocation of the merger of erstwhile tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Subsequently, attacks by the TTP have been on the rise since September following the group’s ceasefire with the army ended. Most of the attacks have happened in and around Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, South Waziristan and North Waziristan districts in KP.
In October, the Ministry of Interior had warned that more than year-long peace negotiations between the TTP and the government of Pakistan “had come to a standstill”, which had led to unease within the TTP’s ranks.
It had noted that the TTP accuses the Pakistani government of failing to fulfill its main demand — the reversal of the merger of former Fata with KP — as well as continuing to detain TTP members while a truce was still being negotiated.
