The Pakistani Taliban announce the end of a ceasefire never fully respected

Taliban armed with rocket launchers and machine guns in northwestern Pakistan (illustrative image).

Photo: Reuters

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Pakistani Taliban, announced the end of the ceasefire they declared in June 2022. They ordered their fighters to carry out attacks across Pakistan.

The ceasefire reached with the Pakistani authorities had never been fully respected by the two parties.

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With our correspondent in Islamabad,

Sonia Ghezali

A new wave of terrorist attacks 

" across the country is what several security analysts predict after the announcement of the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) - the Pakistani Taliban - which put an end to the declared ceasefire in June.

The armed group, created in 2007, is not affiliated with the Afghan Taliban but it is close to it ideologically and historically.

Little chance of being heard

The TTP was indeed created by militants allied to al-Qaeda, who had fought against the Soviet invasion in the 1990s in Afghanistan alongside the Afghan Taliban.

Moreover, the Afghan Taliban played the role of mediators in the negotiations which took place in June between the TTP and the Pakistani authorities and which led to a ceasefire.

However, the demands of the armed group have little chance of being heard.

The TTP is calling for a reduction in the military presence in the country's former tribal areas and above all for this territory to once again become an area in its own right under federal administration, which has not been the case since 2018.

Strict application of Sharia

The group also wants the strict application of Sharia, Islamic law.

Since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, the TTP has come back in force, especially intensifying its attacks against security targets.

Hundreds of residents of the Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have repeatedly demonstrated for peace against the upsurge in violence in recent months.

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