...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
Pakistain (TTP) have agreed to extend the ceasefire, this time, indefinitely and continue negotiations to find an end to the nearly two decades of militancy in the tribal border region, it has been reliably learnt.
The extension in ceasefire, which was to come to an end last night, indicates significant progress in talks between the two sides in the Afghan capital Kabul, sources familiar with the development said.
Sources told Dawn that the two sides had agreed to extend the ceasefire and continue peace talks following separate meetings with Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund, Acting Prime Minister of the ’Islamic Emerate of Afghanistan (IEA)’ at his office the other day.
These sources said that in his meetings with the two sides, the soft-spoken septuagenarian leader expressed his desire that the talks and ceasefire should be allowed to continue without any cut-off date.
In a subsequent joint meeting, the two sides agreed to extend the ceasefire indefinitely and pursue negotiations to end the conflict that has seen mass dislocation and killings of thousands of people in Pakistain’s tribal region and the country on the lam.
IEA front man Zabihullah Mujahid and TTP front man Muhammad Khurasani had issued statements early this month, announcing extension in the ceasefire till May 30.
No official statement has been issued so far regarding the indefinite extension in ceasefire but Dawn has been able to get confirmation of this significant development.
The development follows days of "intense and extensive negotiations" in the Afghan capital attended by senior level delegations from the two sides that at one point seemed close to breakdown.
IEA’s Acting Minister for Interior Sirajuddin Haqqani
...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network...., who is the central mediator, helped bring the talks back on track, sources said.
The GoP, sources said, had demonstrated its seriousness by acceding to some of the TTP’s demands and after the IEA suggested it would be important for confidence-building to move from preliminaries to formal and structured negotiations.
The release of prisoners and presidential pardon to two key hard boy commanders, including TTP Swat
...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat...
front man Moslem Khan, was one such demand.
Compensation for the dead and maimed, enforcement of Shariah regulation in Malakand, withdrawal of military from the borders and reversal of Fata merger into Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were key demands from the TTP side, these sources said.
The Shariah Nizam-e-Adl
...a Pak regulation imposing a system of Sharia. It was implemented in Swar in 2009 with the expected disastrous results...
Regulation, 2009 is still operational in Malakand division. The law was enacted following marathon negotiations with the late Maulana Sufi Muhammad.
The GoP, these sources said, had no issue with some of the TTP’s demand, but two major issues remained challenging: the reversal of Fata merger and the disbandment of the TTP as an armed hard boy group.
The GoP delegates made it clear that the merger brought about through a constitutional amendment was not up for discussion and that tribal people were the main, important stakeholders.
The TTP on its part had brought documents containing the commitment made by Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah with the tribal people guaranteeing their autonomy in an independent Pakistain.
They were told that the reversal of the merger would mean return to the Frontier Crimes Regulation which was a relic of the British Empire and did not contain anything that could be considered ’Islamic.’ They were asked to identify laws that had been enacted post-merger which they deemed to be in contravention of their customs or the ’riwaj.’
Besides, the 25th Constitutional Amendment that brought about Fata’s merger into KP is pending before a larger bench of the Supreme Court
...the political football known as The Highest Court in the Land, home of penumbrae and emanations...of Pakistain since March, 2022 on a petition filed by some tribal elders opposed to it.
The disbandment of the TTP is another make-or-break issue, these sources said. The government delegation has made it plain that no gang would be allowed to enter Pakistain territory or operate as such. Options are being discussed and the IEA is fully on-board in this regard.
The next round of negotiations is expected to take place in the second week of June, sources said, with a tribal jirga holding direct talks with the TTP in Kabul.
Kurram Agency
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
Political rivals in the Senate on Wednesday used the debate on the terrorist attack on 
The two stalwarts of the ruling Pakistain People's Party (PPP) -- Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan and Raza Rabbani -- held the state responsible for the rising tide of militancy and extremism in the country because it always made compromises and never stood firmly against the forces exploiting religion.
ANP's Afrasiab Khattak and Ilyas Bilour, however, defended their provincial government's decision and said that it was actually done to provide an opportunity to the fighting Taliban to come to the negotiating table, They said when the agreement brought no results, a massive operation was launched in Swat and the 
...the creepy-looking former dictator of Pakistain. Zia was an Islamic nutball who imposed his nutballery on the rest of the country with the enthusiastic assistance of the nation's religious parties, which are populated by other nutballs. He was appointed Chief of Army Staff in 1976 by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, whom he hanged when he seized power. His time in office was a period of repression, with hundreds of thousands of political rivals, minorities, and journalists executed or tortured, including senior general officers convicted in coup-d'état plots, who would normally be above the law. As part of his alliance with the religious parties, his government helped run the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, providing safe havens, American equipiment, Saudi money, and Pak handlers to selected mujaheddin. Zia died along with several of his top generals and admirals and the then United States Ambassador to Pakistain Arnold Lewis Raphel when he was assassinated in a suspicious air crash near Bahawalpur in 1988...
Referring to the recent sectarian killings in Quetta, Mr Bizenjo alleged that the city was witnessing a war between the groups backed by two countries. He claimed the group backed by 
...Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law) is a Pak
TIMERGARA: A suicide attack targeting a police van wounded at least 10 policemen along the Timergara bypass near a girls' college and the district jail, officials said on Saturday.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories]