Special assistant to chief minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on information Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif says that there is no option other than to engage in dialogue with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), adding that the government shouldn’t stop holding talks and needs to move forward with the same agenda but with some comprehensive approach to end the violence.

The remarks came a day after the TTP formally called off the ceasefire agreement struck with the federal government earlier this year and ordered its militants to carry out attacks across the country.

“The statement by them [TTP] to end the ceasefire has no ground value as they already ended the agreement,” Saif said speaking on Aaj News programme Spot Light with host Munizae Jahangir.

He said that the TTP had unilaterally announced a ceasefire and “we had welcomed it”.

“We are in touch with Afghanistan’s government who can bring them to a table,” he said that the formal and informal meetings between both sides were still being held in this regard.

The TTP is making two major demands. First, it seeks the reduction of Pakistani military forces from the former tribal areas of Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA). Second, it wants the ‘FATA merger’ reversed. The merger reversal will not be considered under any circumstances considering it is a parliamentary decision.

“After the TTP issued the statement [to end ceasefire], I contacted them and expressed my regret, to which he [TTP’s spokesperson] replied that the statement does not mean ending the negotiations,” he said adding that the TTP was also showing interest in dialogue if the tensions between both sides could be reduced. However, Saif said, that the TTP spokesperson told him that they were conducting retaliatory operations as Pakistan’s security forces were taking action against them.

Earlier in the day, TTP claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in Quetta’s Baleli on a police escort for a polio vaccination team, killing four people and wounding more than 30.

The police official said that the suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into the police truck, detonating the explosives and forcing the police truck to plunge into a ravine.

Speaking in the program, Brigadier (Rtd) Mehmood Shah questioned if the constitution or the federal government’s policy allows holding talks with Pakistanis in another country. “I think there is no room for that,” he clarified.

“How can the central government negotiate with a group sitting in another country? In the Doha agreement, the Taliban had promised that they would not allow their territory to be used for terrorism,” Shah said.

Brigadier (retd) Shah was of the view that security forces should conduct operations against TTP to secure their border.

Senator Sarfaraz Bugti said that Pakistan as a state had several options other than negotiations. “If someone wants to negotiate with us, he can do so within the limits of the constitution of Pakistan, the doors of negotiations should always be kept open.”

He said that instead holding talks with the banned TTP the government should directly hold talks with the Afghan government.

The federal government is seeking for the TTP to dissolve, in favour of peaceful resettlement, and to put an end to their insurgency against Pakistan.