99% of Issues Agreed, Sohail Afridi Sabotaged Talks: Mohsin Naqvi

Speaking at a press conference in Lahore, Naqvi said the opposition’s negotiating team had conducted the talks in a “very commendable” manner and that the two sides had settled almost everything that could realistically be achieved through negotiations.

He said that after the draft agreement was prepared, he took it to President Asif Ali Zardari and also briefed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in detail about the progress made during the negotiations.

Naqvi said there were differences over only one or two issues, while agreement had been reached on 99% of the matters. However, he added, several changes were proposed to the draft after he returned from his meeting with the president.

According to the interior minister, the draft agreement was prepared and amended four times during the negotiations.

“If the decisions had to be made by the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he should have joined the negotiations himself,” Naqvi said.

Naqvi claimed that after the draft had reached its final stage, Chief Minister Sohail Afridi refused to accept it.

He said the government would not have entered into negotiations had it known beforehand that the KP government would ultimately veto the process.

Naqvi said the main disagreement at the final stage concerned counterterrorism measures and security cooperation between the federal and provincial governments, preventing the parties from reaching a final agreement.

The interior minister said the government would not allow an incident similar to the May 9, 2023 protests to happen again under any circumstances.

He said the government would ensure implementation of the Islamabad High Court’s orders and warned that if any damage occurred during the planned protest, Chief Minister Sohail Afridi would be held responsible.

Naqvi said he had made it clear to the opposition delegation during the previous day’s negotiations that it had the right to hold a protest.

“Hold your protest, but we will not allow anyone to storm Islamabad,” he said.

He added that any worker or leader arrested during the protest would face legal action in accordance with the law.

The government-opposition talks ended without a final agreement after prolonged negotiations, with counterterrorism measures and the respective responsibilities of the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments emerging as a major point of disagreement.