LAHORE (Kashmir English): Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has said the government and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) reached agreement on 99 percent of issues during negotiations, but the dialogue collapsed when discussions turned to measures against terrorism.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Naqvi blamed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi for the breakdown, saying the government would not allow another incident like May 9 to occur.
He warned that no further negotiations would take place once PTI’s long march begins.
Naqvi said the government would ensure that Islamabad High Court orders were respected during the march and warned that any violation could result in legal action and contempt of court proceedings.
He added that the government would not permit any breach of law regardless of the form the protest takes.
He defended the PTI delegation involved in the talks, describing its members as serious and reasonable. However, he accused Afridi of rejecting and repeatedly altering the draft after it had been finalized.
Talks stalled over counterterrorism agreement
Naqvi said the disagreement was not primarily political but related to terrorism. According to him, the two sides were working on separate agreements, including a general political declaration and a specific agreement on counterterrorism.
The proposed counterterrorism agreement covered issues related to Afghanistan, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the former FATA region, merged districts and the National Action Plan. Naqvi said the government only wanted the broad outline finalized, while detailed matters could be discussed later through a joint mechanism.
He said the federal government wanted the KP government to stand alongside the federal government and security agencies in combating terrorism. The proposed agreement, he added, contained six to seven points and had no political agenda.
Naqvi said PTI had already assured the government that it would not support terrorists, questioning why it would hesitate to sign a formal agreement reflecting the same commitment. He stressed that the proposed pact was intended to remove misunderstandings rather than link any political party with terrorist groups.
He also said Asad Qaiser had initially expressed support for the counterterrorism points and indicated that the KP side was ready to proceed.
99pc consensus reached
The interior minister said the government and PTI had reached complete agreement on political matters, while overall consensus stood at around 99 percent. He said the negotiating teams held discussions for nearly 12 hours and repeatedly revised the draft to resolve differences.
According to Naqvi, the draft was finalized several times, but new changes were introduced by the KP government. He claimed a fresh draft was presented between midnight and 12:30am containing points different from those previously agreed upon.
Naqvi said the government had no intention of derailing the talks and that President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had directed the negotiating committee to make every effort to reach an agreement.
He clarified that the government had not demanded postponement of the long march, saying the proposal came from the Pakistan Peoples Party to reduce political tensions.
Naqvi warned that negotiations would end once the long march begins. He also expressed concern over the economic and public disruption caused by protests, saying political differences should not come at the expense of public safety, the economy or law and order.
