Pakistani government, Taliban start talks in undisclosed location

PanARMENIAN.Net - The first formal meeting between the Pakistani government and a Taliban-nominated team has begun in an undisclosed location. They are due to start charting a "roadmap" for peace talks, BBC News reported, citing local media outlets.

The talks were delayed earlier in the week after the government side asked for clarification about the composition of the Pakistan Taliban team.

Militants from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have been waging an insurgency inside Pakistan since 2007.

The talks initiative was announced last week by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, following a spate of attacks.

More than 100 people, including soldiers, died in Taliban attacks across the country in January. Thousands have been killed since the TTP came to the fore in 2007.

The chief negotiator for the government side, Irfan Siddiqui, said the government committee would attend the talks with "an open mind", according to the Pakistan Tribune.

Joining Siddiqui on the government team is veteran journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai, former ambassador Rustam Shah Mohmand and a retired major from the ISI intelligence service, Amir Shah.

The three-man TTP team comprises Maulana Sami ul-Haq, known as the "Father of the Taliban", the chief cleric of Islamabad's Red Mosque, Maulana Abdul Aziz and Ibrahim Khan.