Pakistan to continue talks with Taliban

Islamabad, April 29: Pakistan's top civilian and military leadership decided Monday that "all-encompassing talks" would be conducted with the Taliban to "achieve tangible results," officials said.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif convened the meeting to review the ongoing talks with the Taliban at a time when a surge has seen in terror attacks after the Taliban ended their ceasefire.

The 40-day ceasefire expired April 10 and the Taliban said they would not extend as the government had not "made any progress" on their two initial demands -- release of prisoners and giving them some areas in South Waziristan tribal region, Xinhua reported.

"There was unanimous consensus among all the participants that the dialogue process with Taliban should have a concise agenda and dialogue should take place under well defined parameters," said an official statement issued after the meeting.

The meeting was also attended by the Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, Minister Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Chief of Inter- Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt. General Zaheer-ul-Islam, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Tariq Fatemi and senior security officials.

"Serious apprehensions were expressed over recent terrorism incidents and commitment to taking effective action against the perpetrators behind such incidents was reiterated," the statement said.

IANS