Govt-PTI talks collapse: Who said what

Government-opposition negotiations aimed at averting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) October 4 long march on Islamabad collapsed at around 3am on Sunday after four rounds of drafting failed to bridge fundamental differences over counterterrorism cooperation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and access to jailed PTI founder Imran Khan.

"The agreement had been prepared," Naqvi said, adding that he had taken a copy to President Asif Ali Zardari. Upon returning, he learnt that several changes had been made to the draft by the KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi.

"Unfortunately, the KP chief minister tried to sabotage the negotiations."

Naqvi said 99% of the points had been agreed upon and that four drafts had been prepared and amended. He said the KP government had agreed to unequivocally condemn the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and all other terrorist groups, support national policy on Afghan refugees including repatriation and dismantling of Afghan camps, have no contact with the Afghan Taliban regime, provide substantial funding for counterterrorism and police operations, take full provincial ownership of counterterrorism measures and strengthen cooperation with the armed forces.

"Last night, during the final phase of negotiations, the KP government backed out of these commitments."

He warned that "the responsibility for the failure of the negotiations lies solely with the KP chief minister" and said Afridi would be responsible if anyone lost their life during the long march. He added that the president and prime minister were the ultimate decision-makers on the next course of action.

"Sorry to say, despite four drafts that we had closed with all our principals and then again reopened to accommodate PTI's changes, talks collapsed on the KP government's unilateral refusal to sign the afternoon's pre-agreed draft on counterterrorism cooperation with the Centre."

Rehman said the PPP-government team had repeatedly asked for KP government representation at the talks alongside PTI's senior federal leadership, but the chief minister or cabinet representatives never turned up. She said if the province had a viable draft, it should have communicated it through its own committee over the two days rather than presenting new drafts on social media.

"I have never in my 25 years in parliament seen such a reckless squandering of an opening to begin political confidence-building measures, and to bring stability to Pakistan after years of bitter political division."

Raja said the primary reason for the failure was that the PTI-TTAP team stood firm on its position that anti-terrorism actions in KP would be based on agreement between the federal and KP governments, framed on consultation with all political parties represented in the KP Assembly.

The government team insisted that all unilaterally initiated actions must be owned by the provincial government.

"The PTI-TTAP team was clear that we have zero tolerance for terrorism and are committed to rooting it out. We also have a clear position against so-called collateral damage in the form of innocent lives and internal displacement of the local population."

He said the wisdom of the KP assembly's jirga involving all political and tribal notables, including from the merged districts, must be heeded — but this was not acceptable to the federal government.

Qaiser said he had made clear throughout that Pakistan came first and national interests would not be compromised. He said KP had been bearing the consequences of instability and terrorism for nearly four decades, affecting peace, business, industry, investment and ordinary lives.

He said PTI's position was that the KP assembly's unanimous resolution must be taken into account when framing future counterterrorism policy, and that all parliamentary parties and stakeholders in the province must be consulted. He added that even if the federal government did not want to consult PTI directly, it should consult JI, ANP, PPP, PML-N and other stakeholders to build a consensus plan.

"The deadlock came because we wanted access to Imran Khan first. We withdrew all other demands — our only demand was that our political leadership be given access to Imran Khan. They said that would not be included in the agreement and was not under consideration."

He said if PML-N consults Nawaz Sharif and PPP consults Bilawal Bhutto on every matter, PTI too had the right to consult its leader — who was in jail.

Qaiser said PTI's proposed language for the agreement had been: effective, continuous and meaningful consultation between federal and provincial governments to eliminate terrorism in KP, with federal and provincial representatives meeting within 72 hours to prepare a jointly agreed plan of action involving all political parties and stakeholders, so that any policy would carry the full confidence of the people.

Abbas said differences remained over a meeting with Imran Khan and access to his personal doctor, and that the government had said it was not currently in a position to arrange a meeting, though meetings between Khan's sisters and lawyers would be allowed to begin. He said the opposition had also sought clarity over military operations in areas hosting internally displaced persons.

Gohar said the long march remained intact and would proceed, but added that any action during the protest should not create tensions among people in the province.

"We wanted the negotiations to succeed."

He said nothing should be considered final in politics and stressed that the long march should not be met with emergency rule or governor's rule.

Sanaullah said the provincial government must fulfil its constitutional responsibility on terrorism and had failed to give assurances about its role in counterterrorism.

"The long march will not be allowed to enter Islamabad's limits, and any form of unrest will be dealt with through the force of law." He said no time had been fixed for the next round of negotiations.