Peshawar, July 29 (DPA) Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, whose grim rule in Pakistan's tribal district of South Waziristan is marked by suicide bombings and throat-slitting, has contacted the government through mediators for peace talks, official and tribal sources say.

The pleading might have come partly from a near perfect stranglehold the security forces have on him and partly because his fellow Taliban leaders are advising him to be on good terms with the Pakistani government and avoid spoiling their game plan in Afghanistan.

'We have been trying to convince both sides (Mehsud and the government) that fighting will only bring death and destruction to South Waziristan so they should talk,' said a tribal elder, who is also from the Mehsud tribe and a member of a religious political party.

'Now the ice has started to melt,' the tribal elder said on condition of anonymity. 'We have conveyed Mehsud's message to the government and the government's conditions to him.'

If the negotiations, which are still indirect and at the initial stage, succeed, then Mehsud would be required to end attacks on civil, military and foreign targets inside Pakistan.

In return the Pakistan Army would temporarily shelve its plans to push inside the tribal district to fight Mehsud's militia of thousands of well-trained and well-equipped fighters, entrenched across the rugged terrain spanning more than 2,550 square km.

Pakistan has struck several peace deals with Mehsud, the last one in 2007 after a botched offensive, but each such understanding made him stronger.

Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas rules out a dialogue with Mehsud but a senior government official privy to the development said the government had 'told those who are negotiating with Baitullah what it wants'.

'If he accepts our demands, well, it's good, otherwise we have other options,' said the official, who requested anonymity.

The official claimed the main reason for Mehsud's plea for talks was the squeeze security forces have put on him.

Military and paramilitary troops have blocked four main roads and dozens of muddy tracks running through small villages to cut off his supply lines from the rest of the country.

His previous capability to strike anywhere in Pakistan has been reduced by the arrests of hundreds of his supporters in the Tank, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu and Lakki Marwat districts of North Western Frontier Province, which borders South Waziristan.

'They were the main linkages between the Taliban in South Waziristan and many other smaller terrorist groups across Pakistan who facilitated suicide bombers in carrying out attacks,' said a local intelligence official.