Army generals proposed to bring TTP back to Pakistan: Minister

Islamabad [Pakistan], February 21 (ANI): Pakistan Human Rights Minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada on Sunday countered PTI leader Shireen Mazari’s claim that ex-army chief retired Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa wanted to “resettle” the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) members in the country, saying ex-army generals were in favour of bringing TTP back to country, Pakistan based Dawn newspaper reported.

Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader and Minister Pirzada said that the former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general retired Lt Gen Faiz Hameed wanted to bring TTP members back to the country. According to Dawn, the minister’s statement came a day after PTI leader Shireen Mazari claimed that ex-army chief retired Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa wanted to “resettle” the TTP members in the country.

Pirzada while talking to Nadir Guramani on Dawn NewsTV, claimed that an in-camera briefing was held in which army generals had proposed to bring TTP back to Pakistan. “However, (Foreign Minister) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and (Prime Minister) Shehbaz Sharif talked on it … they said that a number of popular leaders were killed by TTP, including Benazir Bhutto sahiba,” he said.

The minister, in response to a question on who made this proposition, said that: “At that time, General Faiz had suggested that they [TTP] should be brought into the mainstream but it backfired.”

Pirzada’s predecessor, PTI leader Mazari had on Saturday rejected the perception that the resettlement was the idea of former prime minister Imran Khan, according to Dawn.

PTI chief Imran Khan recently blamed the negligence of Pakistan’s security forces and intelligence agencies for the rising incidents of terrorism in the country, Pakistan-based Dawn newspaper reported.

Khan, in an interview with Voice of America (VOA), spoke about the criticism received by the PTI for its decision to negotiate with the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) before the party was ousted.

To a question from VOA correspondent Sarah Zaman asked on whether he stands by his decision to greenlight the dialogue with the TTP, Khan was quoted in the Dawn report as saying,

“Well, firstly, what were the choices [the] Pakistani government faced once the Taliban took over and they decided the TTP, and we’re talking about 30, [30,000] to 40,000 people, you know, the families included, once they decided to send them back to Pakistan? Should we have just lined them up and shot them, or should we have tried to work with them to resettle them.”

Khan said his government had a meeting at that time and the idea behind it was resettlement with the “concurrence of politicians all along the border”.

“But that never happened because our government left and once our government was removed, the new government took its eye off the ball,” he said.

“But then where were the Pakistani security forces? Where were the intelligence agencies? Could they not see them regrouping?” the former PM asked.

“How could we be held responsible for their negligence?” the PTI chief asked.