Pakistan starts peace talks with Tehrik-e-Taliban

Islamabad: Pakistan government has started peace talks with the Tehrik-e-Taliban and other militant groups across the restive northwestern tribal areas in anticipation of an early withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan, according to a media report today.
The move is a critical step in the transition to full Afghan control by the end of 2014 as announced by US President Barack Obama at a NATO summit in Lisbon last year, The Express Tribune newspaper quoted its sources as saying.
Initial talks were opened with Pakistani Taliban and affiliated militants before a recent wave of terrorist attacks across Pakistan, the sources were quoted as saying.
Both sides were “putting up their respective demands and their terms and conditions” to end militancy in the tribal areas and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, the sources said.