Naqvi says talks with opposition have collapsed, accuses KP CM of 'sabotaging' negotiation

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced on Sunday that the recent talks between the federal government and the opposition had collapsed, attributing the failure to the opposition's decision to initiate their long march. Naqvi, speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, accused Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi of "sabotaging" the negotiations.

He warned that no one would be allowed to violate the Islamabad High Court's orders regarding the protest and promised legal action against any violators. Earlier, Naqvi had claimed that the KP government had agreed to sign a written agreement and submit an implementation plan within 72 hours, mainly focused on counterterrorism initiatives, but later retracted this statement.

According to Naqvi, the PTI agreed to a range of measures, including reconsidering the Police Act 2026, preventing terrorists from operating freely, condemning the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, supporting the national policy on Afghan refugees, and providing substantial funding for counterterrorism operations. However, he stated that the KP government had backed out of these commitments during the final phase of negotiations.

The meeting between the opposition and the federal government began on Saturday afternoon, focusing on the PTI's planned October 4 march to Islamabad. The talks continued into the early hours of Sunday without yielding any results. When asked about the outcome, Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas said the talks had not produced a breakthrough, with the deadlock centered around jailed PTI founder Imran Khan's meeting with his personal physicians and the issue of terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Interior Minister Tallal Chaudhry, part of the government's delegation, cited the KP government's inability to assure cooperation in the fight against terrorism as the primary reason for the talks' failure.