Islamabad: Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik Thursday termed as "unacceptable" a conditional truce offer by the Taliban and said militant groups cannot dictate the state, media reports said.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has hinted at a cease-fire with the Pakistani government on condition that the country should end its participation in the Afghan war, reshape the foreign policy and the country's constitution in accordance with the Islamic Sharia law, reported Xinhua citing Geo TV.
Taliban leader Ismatullah Muavia made the truce offer in a letter to Geo News.
Malik said the Taliban's offer of conditional respite was "unacceptable".
"Taliban leader Ismatullah Muavia through his offer of conditional truce has tried to dictate the government, which is totally unacceptable," the channel quoted him as saying.
The minister said Muavia was a member of banned extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which was behind many attacks on security forces and Shia Muslims.
Malik said the Taliban was facing a rift and that was why the offer for a truce came from a leader and not directly from its chief Hakimullah Mehsud.
He asked the Afghan government to hand over Pakistani Taliban leader Maulvi Fazalullah, who he said was hiding in the border regions of Afghanistan.
IANS
First Published: Thursday, December 27, 2012, 23:04