The deputy commander of the Pakistan Taliban, who have been waging a four-year war against the government in Islamabad, said on December 10 that the two sides were holding talks, a move that could further fray the US-Pakistan relationship.

But both Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and Interior Minister Rehman Malik denied the reports.

Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, the deputy commander of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, said that talks for an end to the insurgency were under way.