Pakistan religious party offers to mediate between Govt, Taliban India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

As the Pakistan military gears up to launch a ground offensive in South Waziristan, the leader of a religious political party, Maulana Fazl, has offered to 'mediate' between the government and the Taliban. "We are ready to negotiate between the government and insurgents in the NWFP and tribal area," The Dawn quoted Maulana Fazl, as saying during a conference of Ulema and Madressah teachers here. However, the Pakistan government has rejected his offer. The rejection means that the army is working on the US agenda and the General Headquarters (GHQ) did not want a peaceful solution to the conflict, he pointed out. "We want to pull the nation, the government and the army out of the US pressure. Dialogue is the only way to end crisis and international pressure," he added. He added that the Taliban did not pose a threat to Pakistan, while America, which has taken over Islamabad and deployed Blackwater agents and Marines in different cities, did. Fazl also accused security forces of committing extra-judicial killings and human rights violations in Malakand and other parts of the province and FATA. "Such acts could be expected from militants as they are a disorganised force but a regular army should not indulge in such violations," he said, adding that the chief of his party in Hangu district was killed in an air strike and six workers were shot dead near his house in Dera Ismail Khan.