ISLAMABAD: Pakistan denied reports about deepening divisions between the civilian government and the army yesterday and said it had yet to decide whether to call off attempts to engage Taliban insurgents in peace talks.
On Friday, government insider said that during a tense meeting this week, Pakistan’s powerful army chief told Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that the time for talks with the Taliban was over.
Sharif came to power a year ago promising to find a peaceful settlement and has put talks at the heart of his security policy.
But as round after round of talks failed, the army started to lean towards a military solution in the troubled North Waziristan region where the militants are holed up.
Pakistani media almost never report on the often difficult relationship between the civilian government and the army.
In a statement yesterday, the Interior Ministry said there was no tension with between the government and the military. “Clarifying the situation the (Interior) Minister said the meeting was held in a highly congenial and positive atmosphere in which wide-ranging issues pertaining to national security including the situation on our borders was discussed,” it said.
“No decision for a full scale military operation in North Waziristan was taken,” the ministry quoted the minister, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, as saying. REUTERS
