Islamabad will not negotiate with the TTP as the proscribed Islamic militant group was responsible for killing Pakistani civilians and security forces, a spokesperson for the Pakistan Foreign Ministry has said.
"I would like to invite you to a statement made by our foreign minister, in which the FM stated that Pakistan will not negotiate with individuals who are responsible for the killing of Pakistani civilians and law enforcement officials," spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch told reporters in Islamabad.
Pakistan's reiteration about not holding talks with the TTP came days after reports from both Kabul and Islamabad suggested that the Taliban** had agreed to the neighboring country's proposal to shift the militant organization's fighters from frontier areas.
Also, the report claimed that the Taliban had offered Pakistan to broker peace with the TTP.
Notably, the TTP ended its unilateral ceasefire with the Pakistan government in November and subsequently unleashed a reign of terror in the volatile Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Waziristan regions that border Afghanistan in the West.
During the attacks, the TTP targeted both civilians and Pakistan's law-enforcement agencies.
Pakistan has accused Kabul of allowing TTP fighters to hide in Afghanistan, a charge rubbished by the Taliban repeatedly.
Despite the denial, Pakistani intelligence agencies have continued to pin the blame on the Taliban as they believe that the TTP has been given safe havens there.
Going back to the topic of Pakistan-TTP talks, Islamabad has been quite categorical about its stand over the matter.
Previously, Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari noted that there would be no talks with any terrorist organizations, including the TTP, which has no respect for Pakistani laws and constitution.
"The new leadership in Pakistan, both political and military, has been absolutely clear. There will be no talks with terrorist organizations that don’t respect our laws and constitution," he said earlier this year.
* a terrorist organization banned in Russia and India
** under UN sanctions for terrorism