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Taliban call for peace talks with new government

* Spokesman welcomes poll victory of anti-Musharraf parties

ISLAMABAD: Local Taliban said on Sunday that they were ready for peace talks with the new government, but only if it rejected President Pervez Musharraf’s “war on terror” in the country’s tribal belt.

A rebel spokesman quoted Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud – accused by Musharraf of masterminding the slaying of former premier Benazir Bhutto – as calling for negotiations with parties that beat the president’s allies in elections.

The announcement comes amid US concerns about Islamabad’s commitment against extremists after the opposition parties won the February 18 elections.

“The Taliban movement welcomes the victory of anti-Musharraf political parties ... and announces its willingness to enter into negotiations with them for bringing peace,” Taliban spokesman Maulvi Omar said, quoting a statement by Mehsud.

“Whoever makes the government, we want to make it clear to them we don’t want fighting. We want peace, but if they impose war on us, we will not spare them,” Omar told journalists in Peshawar by telephone.

He urged the new administration to “avoid repeating the mistakes of the Musharraf government”.

Omar says he is a spokesman for Taliban groups operating in the Tribal Areas but there is no way to independently verify his claim.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz responded to the Taliban statement by saying that political and economic solutions were needed to deal with extremism.

“Our stance is that General Musharraf has mishandled the situation to stay in power. We feel that if Musharraf steps down, half of the terrorism would end,” party spokesman Ahsan Iqbal told AFP.

Hundreds of people have died in months of clashes with Taliban militants in Pakistan, and the country has been hit by a wave of suicide attacks over the past year. The most high-profile bombing killed Bhutto at a political rally on December 27. The Pakistani government said Mehsud orchestrated the killing, but he has denied all involvement. afp/reuters

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