Asiatimes Online: Atif Mir ……But well-informed circles in the Ministry of Interior claim that the TTP had actually set some pre-requisites to initiate talks with the government, most of which have been accepted in the aftermath of the November 26 NATO air attack on two Pakistani check posts on the AfPak border.
Pakistan reacted sharply to the NATO strike by announcing a review of Pakistan-US ties, suspending NATO supply lines through Pakistan to Afghanistan and giving a 15-day deadline to the Americans to vacate the Shamsi air base in Balochistan province.
All three Pakistani actions correspond closely with the November 19 pre-conditions made public by a TTP spokesman for entering into peace negotiations with the federal government. Therefore, unlike in neighboring Afghanistan where a suicide bomber killed more than 50 Shi’ite worshipers on December 6, the Ashura observances passed peacefully in Pakistan without any terrorist activity, resulting in the interior minister publicly thanking the Taliban for responding to his appeal.
Editor’s Note: One thing is clear from this well written article. The Pakistani state has collapsed in front of Taliban. Peace treaties with them means that the KP Province will be the first experiment in Sharia Law being enforced with full vehemence and will gradually expand its writ over the state. Seeds of Pakistan’s dismemberment have finally started bearing fruit.
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http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/ML13Df01.html