ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 6 Militants in Pakistan claiming to be the Taliban declared a cease-fire Wednesday but some experts saw it as a maneuver to gain time, reports said.
"We have declared the cease-fire for negotiation," Maulvi Omar, a spokesman for Baitullah Mehsud, told reporters in a telephonic conversation, Pakistan's Nation reported.
Mehsud, a Taliban leader whose supporters have been fighting Pakistani security forces in the tribal areas, has been named by the Pakistan government as the person behind the assassination of former Premier Benazir Bhutto.
The Nation reported Maulvi Omar said the cease-fire was declared because his group wants peace, the report said.
The Nation, quoting sources, reported Mehsud was convinced by his like-minded colleagues from both Afghanistan and Pakistan's tribal areas to hold talks with the government.
The Taliban truce offer was seen by some as an attempt to gain time to regroup.
The Christian Science Monitor reported Taliban leader Mullah Omar has been trying to turn the Taliban's attention from Pakistan toward Afghanistan.
Regardless of what results from the so-called cease-fire, it would be important for the military to have a plan for the next move as the fighting cannot go on forever, the report said quoting experts.
Copyright 2008 by UPI
