Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister set new conditions at last moment, says Talal Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD (Atemad Desk): Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry has said that the government and the PTI had agreed on the issue of terrorism in their talks, but new conditions were deliberately put forward at the last moment by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister. He said patronage of terrorists was not acceptable under any circumstances.

Addressing a news conference in Islamabad, he said the basic framework of the agreement had been almost agreed on the first day of talks. Agreement was also reached on political points and matters related to terrorism. Opposition leaders went to Peshawar and met the Chief Minister. On their return, they gave an assurance of 100 per cent agreement on the points concerning terrorism. After that, the Interior Minister also briefed the Prime Minister.

According to the Minister of State, the first draft on the second day included all political matters, among them the health of the PTI founder, meetings with him and the cases against PTI leaders. The draft was finalised at around 9pm. The Interior Minister left with it to meet the Prime Minister and the President. At the final stage, the opposition contacted the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister in a separate room. As no agreement was reached, it thanked the government and left.

Talal Chaudhry said that in recent years the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had shown a lack of interest in measures against terrorism. He said it had not fulfilled the promises made to the security forces. He said the opposition should be given as much political space as possible, but national security could not be compromised. He said the National Action Plan was not the plan of any province or party but the national plan of Pakistan. He added that its second phase was drawn up during the PTI founder’s government.