DHAKA: Pakistani government negotiators say they are not planning to meet a Taliban team for preliminary peace talks in Islamabad as expected on Tuesday.

The government side said before talks began they wanted further clarification from the team nominated by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has expressed disappointment at the news.

The two sides had been due to start charting a ‘roadmap’ for talks.

The militants have been waging an insurgency inside Pakistan since 2007.

Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif announced last week that the peace talks would go ahead. They follow a spate of attacks.

In January more than 100 people, including many soldiers, died in Taliban attacks across the country.

As a result, many analysts had been expecting a large scale military offensive against TTP strongholds in Pakistan’s tribal areas, reports the BBC.

BDST: 1624 HRS, FEB 04, 2014