London, Oct 23 : The Pakistan unit of the Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has expressed willingness to lay down arms if the government assured it of ending the ongoing military operation.

TTP spokesman Maulvi Omar said that the allegation that the Taliban movement was destabilising Pakistan was “baseless”.

“The TTP was firm on its stance that if the government ended the military operation, it would lay down its arms,” the Daily Times quoted Omar as saying.

The government had always backed out of its promises, he said and added that no foreign agencies were pressurising the Taliban and they were independent in making their own decisions. (ANI)