Rehman Malik says banned militant groups can be delisted if they "close down militant wings"

Islamabad, Mar 12 (ANI): Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said banned militant groups, including the Taliban, would be delisted if they "closed their militant wings".

Pakistan has banned more than 30 militant outfits, including al Qaeda, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

"If the proscribed organisations assure us that they have closed down their militant wings and abandoned extremism, then we would like to meet them in next few days," The Express Tribune quoted Malik, as saying.

"We have been contacted by several banned organisations that want to sit and talk. If they want to give up militancy we will talk to them as we are revising the list of proscribed organisations," he added.

He did not identify any group, but said that the government had "even offered the Taliban to give up militancy and join the federation". (ANI)