The Pakistani Taliban ended a month-long ceasefire with the government in Islamabad on Tuesday, ordering its fighters to resume offensives across the country, where the insurgent group has claimed dozens of deadly attacks.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said in a statement that it had decided to end the five-month ceasefire after the Pakistan Army intensified operations against the group in the northwestern tribal regions and elsewhere in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan. .
Pakistan and the TTP agreed to an indefinite ceasefire in May after talks in the Afghan capital.
The Government of Pakistan or the Armed Forces have not yet ruled on this announcement, the Associated Press (AP) agency reported.
The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group but allied to the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan more than a year ago when US and NATO troops were in the final stages of their withdrawal.
The Taliban’s rise to power in Afghanistan has emboldened the TTP, which has its top leaders and fighters entrenched in the neighboring country.
The end of the ceasefire is a setback for efforts by the Afghan Taliban since the beginning of the year to facilitate a peace deal aimed at ending the violence.
Kabul hosted the talks between the TTP and representatives of the Pakistani government and security forces. This announcement also comes a day before Pakistan’s army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who approved the controversial ceasefire with the TTP in May, resigns after completing his six-year term.
Bajwa will hand over command of the Armed Forces to the newly appointed Army chief, General Asim Munir, in a ceremony in the military town of Rawalpindi that will take place this Tuesday and will have a strong security organization, due to fears of acts of violence.
The outgoing general carried out a series of military operations against the TTP in recent years before agreeing to peace talks, which have stalled a 14-year-old insurgency in Pakistan.
The TTP has been campaigning for stricter enforcement of Islamic law in the country, the release of its members from government custody and a reduction in Pakistan’s military presence in the country’s former tribal regions.
During the negotiations, the Pakistani authorities called for the dissolution of the TTP. Islamabad also wanted the insurgents to accept its constitution and cut all ties with the Islamic State group, another Sunni militant group with a regional affiliate operating in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
However, both parties seem to have maintained their positions since the start of the peace talks. In a separate statement, the TTP said it had attacked a vehicle carrying Pakistani troops in the North Waziristan district near the Afghan border, causing casualties.
This attack was not confirmed by the military and the statement did not provide any further information. The Pakistani Taliban have for years used Afghanistan’s rugged border regions as hideouts and to carry out cross-border attacks into Pakistan.
Source: TSF
