Imran Khan calls for Taliban to be allowed office for peace talks
The Taliban should be allowed to open an office in Pakistan to boost the prospects of peace talks, the country's opposition leader and former cricket captain Imran Khan has said.
His call was made after he visited victims of the worst terrorist attack on the country's Christian minority in Pakistan's history, the suicide bombing of Peshawar's All Saints Church in which 85 worshippers and killed and more than 100 injured as they emerged from Sunday mass.
The proposal was condemned by his Awami National Party opponents which accused him of being "soft" on Taliban terrorism.
Mr Khan, whose centrist Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party (PTI) party now governs in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province after a strong showing in the country's general election early this year, dismissed the criticism and said the move would boost the prospects for peace.
Prime minister Nawaz Sharif won all-party support for a new dialogue with Pakistan's Taliban umbrella group, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP),
“If the government is serious about pursuing the dialogue process with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan it should allow them to have their own office like the one opened by the Afghan Taliban in Qatar,” he said.
“If the Americans can allow the opening of office in Qatar to facilitate talks with the Afghan Taliban, why can’t we do in our own country,” he added.
Senator Zahid Khan of the Awami National Party said his comments were "childish".
“This is very unfortunate to see that a leader like him is making childish remarks. The Pakistani Taliban was never in power in this country, and they are not fighting against occupation as the Afghan Taliban say, so it is immature of him to compare the two,” He said.
“People of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are dying every day because of these terrorists and Imran Khan continues to be soft on them. People have started to hate him already,” he added.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has suffered a number of Taliban in recent months.
Mr Khan was strongly criticised shortly after he described the church bombing as a conspiracy to derail the peace process with the Pakistani Taliban, which angered Christian Pakistanis. in a series if public protests, the former playboy cricketer was denounced by protestors who chanted: “Imran is a dog."