Sharif Helping Taliban-Karzai Talks

by IOL (reposted)

Wed, Oct 8, 2008 7:32AM

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s two-time former premier Nawaz Sharif is wooing Taliban and former Afghan premier Gulbadin Hikmatyar for a settlement with the US-backed Afghan government of Hamid Karzai, well-placed sources confirm.

"Nawaz Sharif is using his good offices to bring Taliban, Hikmatyar and the Karzai government in order to bring a durable peace in the region," a senior leader of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) told IslamOnline.net requesting anonymity for not being authorized to discuss the initiative.

A delegation led by Taliban former ambassador to Pakistan Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef is currently in Makkah and holding talks with the Karzai government officials, Pakistani and Afghan sources have confirmed.

Hikmatyar was represented by his son-in-law, Dr Ghairat Bahair, who has recently been released by the US forces on the intervention of Karzai, they added.

"Mr Sharif will be willing to play a role in bringing peace Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the world over," Siddique-ul-Farooq, his spokesman, told IOL.

"But he hasn’t spoken to me about Makkah talks. I have no idea about that."

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For more information: http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satelli...

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