The Pakistani government has agreed to a controversial ceasefire with Taliban militants in the troubled tribal area bordering Afghanistan, in a move that is set to raise suspicions among the country’s western partners, notably the US.

A Taliban spokesman in the South Waziristan district said on Wednesday that Baitullah Mehsud, the key suspect in the murder of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, had ordered an indefinite truce in the region.