In the last few months, dozens of Taliban leaders and activists were released as a sign of goodwill and sincerity for the success of peace talks being held in Afghanistan, Pakistan or other foreign destinations like Qatar and France.

A number of top guns of Taliban were released by Pakistan on the occasion of the visit of members of High Peace Council to Pakistan which later on also continued with the release of some more leaders. Similarly, a large number of imprisoned Taliban were released by Afghan authorities a few days earlier which caught the immediate attention of the national and international media.

Continuous release of such large number of anti-state and anti-government elements has raised some serious concerns about the possible threats of these releases. First question raised in this regard was that if such large number of Taliban activists is to be released so easily then what is the need of carrying out military operations to catch them in which large number of our brave soldiers sacrificed their lives or sustained injuries.

There are also some allegations that on the name of Taliban, some influential authorities availed the chance to release their favored ones and there was not present any criteria while releasing these prisoners and if there was any, it has not been made public.

Similarly, political analysts have criticized these releases as they have not brought any kind of good result in past. An incident was also reported when a terrorist released by government was found to be involved in an attack on a police checkpoint in which a number of soldiers were killed or injured.

Moreover, these signs of goodwill have been one-sided and as a response to these releases, there has never been any kind of cooperation from Taliban, in the form of suspension of attacks or any other. Moreover, these releases were mostly made on the occasion of peace talks but these peace talks have also failed to show up with any tangible result till now.

Keeping in view all the above elements, it is necessary that a proper commission or committee should be established to properly consider the different impacts of any such step in future and any such decision should be taken after proper consultation and investigation. For this purpose, services of political analysts and experts can be taken who are having vast study and broader vision about these issues. It is hoped that in future any such decision would be taken that would be accepted by all and not become the victim of criticism by anyone.