Sir: The Pakistan of today stands at the crossroads of its destiny. The much-hyped peace talks with the Taliban may be being conducted with all good intentions, but conflicting statements from members of the negotiating team seem to be raising more questions than answering them. Damage control must be done at the earliest, before talks become a non-starter. A ceasefire from both parties militarily and verbally needs to be strictly adhered to. Both sides should have one spokesman each who should issue a handout to be made public with the principle of the less said the better. The government team also needs to understand that during the negotiations all hostilities must be stopped. The past few days with numerous violent attacks don’t bode well. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has denounced these attacks. If there words are to be taken at their face value then the utility of the talks become doubtful as this only goes to prove that even if the talks succeed with one group, others may keep playing havoc with our security. Jamsed Savul Peshawar