Islamabad: Shah Mahmood Qureshi defended the policies of the PTI government when it came to dealing with the banned TTP. He said that criticism of their move to talk to the banned group was “unwarranted.”
The people in charge of the PDM blame the country’s last government for the recent rise in terrorism. In January, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the previous government had tried to “appease” the TTP.
Qureshi said that they had chosen to bring the Pakistani Taliban back into the mainstream because they had to go back.
But he said that certain steps taken to bring the Taliban into the mainstream. The head of the PTI said that the group had to agree with Pakistan’s Constitution and not bring weapons from Afghanistan.
“They have to come here and live in peace, and they have to be rehabilitated,” Qureshi told a private TV station in an interview.
The leader of the PTI said that the then-National Assembly briefed on the matter during a meeting that held behind closed doors.
The PTI leader put the blame on the PDM-led government by saying that everyone was at the talks, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Bilawal, the army chief at the time, the ISI chief, and everyone else.
“Those who are complaining now were all there for the briefings,” he said.
The former minister said that after this meeting, it was decided that they needed to move forward and make a plan for what to do if the Taliban came back. However, right after that, the PTI lost power.
