Peshawar: The Pakistani Taliban, which has carried out a string of deadly attacks on security forces, on Friday claimed it was stronger than before and the government should show seriousness about holding talks with it.
Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said in a statement that the government was accusing the TTP of being reluctant to join a dialogue while also talking about operations against the militants.
Former army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani and former Interior Minister Rehman Malik had made claims about breaking the back of the Taliban but today the militants are "stronger than before", the statement said.
"You people also try and we are ready for it," it added.
The TTP claimed the PML-N government, like previous regimes, had been "trapped" by the US and Pakistani generals as it has not taken a single step to move the peace process forward and was instead coming up with "catchy slogans".
"If you have desire for talks, then you have to create an atmosphere for it and talks cannot be held under a hanging sword," the statement said.
"We cannot be subdued by threats as this is not something new for us because (former Presidents Pervez) Musharraf and (Asif Ali) Zardari had also dreamt about elimination of the Taliban in their tenures."
The Taliban recently carried out two attacks, including a suicide bombing near the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, that killed over 30 troops.
Shahid claimed Taliban cadres were being killed and dumped across the country and "more than 15 people were killed on suspicion of being our fighters" in one week.
In Mir Ali and Miranshah in North Waziristan Agency, innocent people were massacred in the name of Taliban commanders, he claimed.
Those who made efforts to initiate peace talks are being humiliated by the government through statements that they had not been given any mandate to hold talks with militants, he added.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Fazlur Rehman and Maulana Samiul Haq are the two persons who made attempts to take forward the peace process and both had been disappointed by the government, the statement said.
