Islamabad: The Pakistan government on Thursday said the decision to launch air strikes on Taliban bases in the tribal belt was made jointly with the military but left the door open for dialogue with the banned militant group.
The air strikes in North Waziristan and Khyber Agency were undertaken because self-defence is a right that the government cannot take away from the armed forces, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told a news conference here.
The air strikes were a combined decision of the government and the military, he said, stressing that only dialogue and not war is the solution to the decade-long insurgency that has engulfed the country.
Khan quoted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as saying that pursuing talks further with the militants would not be advisable due to the circumstances currently prevailing in the country.
Terrorism and the talks cannot take place simultaneously, he said.
Sharif yesterday authorised the launch of the air strikes, days after the government suspended a fragile peace process when a Taliban faction executed 23 troops abducted in 2010.
Khan said though the peace process was deadlocked, the government`s initiative will continue with militant groups that believe in dialogue.
The government did not carry out any military action against militants since the inception of the peace process in September, he said. "What else could the government have done to show its sincerity of observing a ceasefire."
Appreciating the role of the committees formed by the government and the Taliban for negotiations, Khan said both played a positive part.
He said the government initiated the dialogue with sincerity and questioned why political parties that are opposing the move had failed to launch a military operation against the militants when they were in power.
Pakistani fighter jets have pounded militant hideouts in the lawless North Waziristan and Khyber tribal regions, killing over 40 militants including foreigners.
The air strikes, which mostly targeted hideouts in Mir Ali area of North Waziristan Agency, were sanctioned by Sharif himself.
