Pakistan and Pakistani Taliban Agree on 1 Month Ceasefire

The TTP is infamous for its failed attempt to kill Malala Yousafzai and a terrorist attack on a school in Peshawar.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. 

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@ImranKhanPTI)

The Pakistani government and local Taliban militants that make up the Pakistani Taliban or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) reached an agreement on Monday, 8th November, to maintain a ceasefire for a month, Reuters reported.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry of Pakistan said in a statement that "the government of Pakistan and banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan have agreed on a complete ceasefire."

There was also a possibility that the ceasefire would be extended, spokesmen for both parties added.

The TTP is a movement that is separate and distinct from the Afghan Taliban.

Its objective for many years has been to oust the civilian government in Islamabad and rule Pakistan in accordance with Sharia law.

Talks between the TTP, the Pakistani government, and the ISI have failed in the past.

However, after the Afghan Taliban emerged victorious earlier this year in mid-August, it has tried to be the peacemaker between the two actors of the intra-Pakistan conflict, and set up meetings for them in Afghanistan, Al Jazeera reported.

The TTP has carried out some horrific attacks that have contributed to its barbaric reputation.

It was responsible for the 2014 terrorist attack on a school in Peshawar that led to the deaths of 149 people.

132 among those who were murdered were children.

But perhaps it is most famous for its failed attempt to kill Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and an activist for girls education.

(With inputs from Reuters and Al Jazeera)