ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Thursday said the option of dialogue with Taliban should not be given up untested as it could prove the best strategy to resolve the prevailing situation.
“Several countries have resolved their grave issues through dialogue. It can prove as the best option if other side also shows positive gesture,” he said in an interview with a private television channel.
The premier said the dialogue process had been heading fast but it came to a standstill following a drone attack killing Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud.
He said drone attacks must not be carried out on Pakistan's soil as these breached the country's sovereignty. But why the drone attack was made at that time when the dialogue process was moving forward, he questioned.
The prime ministers said the government would try to reestablish the contacts with Taliban and would devise strategy as how to make any breakthrough in this regard.
To another question, Nawaz Sharif said he would contact the political leadership of the country to help carry forward dialogue process with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
“I will talk to Imran Khan, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Maulana Samiul Haq and Syed Munawar Hassan. If they make any breakthrough, it would be a great pleasure for me. Hopefully, this will help the process move forward speedily and effectively.”
Agreeing with the TV anchor's suggestion for engaging other political leaders in the talks process, the prime minister said he already had such a strategy in his mind and would ask these leaders to extend cooperation.
He said the participation of then army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and the ISI chief in the All Parties Conference, proved that the army was not separate from the nation. They had also endorsed the APC decisions, he added.
Sharif said the military had left the issue to be resolved by the political and national leadership of the country, “and even today they (military) stick to their stance.”
Now it was the responsibility of the national leadership to move forward in unison, he added.
To a question, he said realising the sense of insecurity among the people of Swat, it has been decided to establish a cantonment in the area to ensure presence of security forces there.
Regarding his Swat visit, he said the main objective was to launch the Youth Business Loan Scheme there.
Regarding former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharrraf's treason trial, he said it had been initiated following the court order and that it should not create any strain between the government and the military.
“Everyone is equal before law,” he said quoting a Holy Prophet's saying that the nations in the past had been ruined for having separate laws for the influential and the poor.
When asked about initiation of trial against the then aides of Musharraf, the premier said the matter was subjudice and he had no personal grudges or enmity against anyone.
“This is not my personal issue. The question is not of sentencing anyone rather establishing a civilised society,” he remarked.