Former prime minister Imran Khan has disclosed that his administration attempted to use the Afghan Taliban to assist rehabilitate TTP fighters in ex-FATA, but the scheme failed due to provincial resistance.
While speaking at a seminar in the federal capital PTI chairman said the government intended to relocate at least 5,000 TTP members and their families, totalling around 35,000 people. However, the initiative was abandoned because the provinces baulked at footing the expense.
According to the PTI chairman, Pakistan now has a fantastic opportunity to deal with the TTP menace following the collapse of Kabul and the ascent to power of the Afghan Taliban.
“The Afghan Taliban pressurized the TTP, which had over 5,000 fighters among its 40,000-strong group, to go back to Pakistan and we took a number of steps to deal with it,” Khan said.
According to Khan, there was an anti-merger group in tribal areas and the PTI intended to start uplift projects to appease the community but there wasn’t much progress made in this sector due to a lack of funding.
