DHAKA: The Taliban have ruled out talks with the Pakistan government, saying the chances of negotiations after the killing of their leader Hakimullah Mehsud in a US drone strike were ‘below zero’.

Senior Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan leader Ihsanullah Ihsan, in an interview to Newsweek Pakistan, claimed Mehsud’s killing last week was a violation of Pashtun culture.

‘After this incident, there can be no peace talks. It would be too generous to say that the possibility of peace talks is zero; the chances are, in fact, below zero,’ he said, reports The Times of India.

‘You can’t engage someone in peace talks and then attack his home and kill his father. Hakimullah Mehsud was our leader, our hearts are heavy and our anger will soon be felt by everyone,’ he said.

Ihsan described interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s criticism of the drone strike that killed Mehsud as ‘shedding crocodile tears’.

He claimed the ‘ruse of peace talks’ has been used to eliminate Taliban leaders one by one.

‘This is their strategy: they distract us from our security priorities through offers of talk and then eliminate our leaders. We will not allow this to persist,’ he said.

Asked about the interior minister’s indignation over the drone strike, Ihsan said Khan was expressing guilt over his government’s involvement in a ‘wrong act’.

BDST: 2011 HRS, NOV 09, 2013
RoR/SRS