Sir: What the Taliban are saying to us is: “What’s mine is mine, what’s yours is negotiable.” They want the state to stop arresting militants and to ignore the repeated suicide bombing of our cities and killing of our policemen and soldiers. As Musharraf once said, “There is no use talking to them, they think they are right and everyone else is wrong.” We all knew that these talks would serve no purpose other than allow the Taliban to regroup and capture more territory when their demand for the withdrawal of the army from Waziristan is accepted. Those who favour talks should realize that if the war is lost, it is the common people who would eventually suffer, since the politicians will flee to their safe havens abroad, where their property and huge bank accounts await them. SHAKIR LAKHANI Karachi