Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Thursday that the federal government had exhausted every effort to secure the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s cooperation against terrorism, and that the emergency and governor’s rule were imposed reluctantly after months of failed engagement.
Speaking in the joint session of Parliament, Naqvi rejected opposition allegations that the government was using terrorism for political ends. “We made every effort to bring their government on board so that they could fight shoulder to shoulder with us,” he said. Dawn reported that the joint sitting went on to endorse the emergency and governor’s rule amid an outcry from opposition members.
“Do not put this on us”
Naqvi traced the effort back to an Apex Committee meeting held in Peshawar in February, which he attended with the Peshawar corps commander and which the provincial chief minister hosted. He said arranging it had been difficult, and that the aim was a joint statement that federal and provincial authorities would work together against terrorism. He said security personnel had been martyred the same day, and that the chief minister had been persuaded by formal request to attend their funeral prayers, which Naqvi claimed was the last time he did so.
He said the government had personally engaged the chief minister on several occasions, including joint meetings with the finance minister, the planning minister and the prime minister about the province’s financial difficulties. According to Naqvi, the two sides also worked out a security plan for five districts, under which police would be strengthened while civil armed forces gradually withdrew over six months. He asked who had stopped the provincial government from implementing it.
The talks with the PTI
Naqvi said the negotiating committee of the PTI had shown a clear commitment to fighting terrorism, singling out PTI leader Asad Qaiser, whose position he described as so firm that even government representatives had not matched it. The difference, he said, lay between the committee and the provincial leadership, which did not share those views.
He said the government waited late into the night for an answer on the fourth point of the proposed agreement and made a final phone call urging the opposition to resolve it. He rejected claims that government representatives had walked away, saying they waited for hours while opposition members consulted separately, and appealed to members of both committees and National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to confirm it. Almost every clause of the draft, he added, reflected opposition demands. The only extra line, on withdrawing the PTI’s long march, was added on a suggestion by PPP Senator Sherry Rehman.
The last 24 hours
Naqvi said it was clear in the final 24 hours that talks had failed, yet the government still explored alternatives. One proposal, he said, was for the provincial government itself to adopt emergency measures in the 12 districts affected by terrorism, which provincial representatives had agreed to in principle. He said the chief minister had never accompanied the military on a counter-terrorism operation, and asked how operations could work if he would not stand with the army.
“Terrorism had to be confronted directly,” Naqvi said, adding that the government could not stay in the background while security personnel kept losing their lives. He said no party should be accused of supporting terrorism without justification, but that the fight could not be run on contradictory policies at federal and provincial level.
Opposition alliance suspends talks
The Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayin-e-Pakistan (TTAP) announced earlier on Thursday that it was suspending all negotiations with the government until a meeting with PTI founder Imran Khan was arranged and information about his health was provided. The alliance said negotiating authority rested solely with its chairman, Mahmood Khan Achakzai. It called the governor’s rule a “midnight assault on the Constitution”, demanded its withdrawal, and said it would petition the Peshawar High Court. It also demanded the release of the detained KP chief minister Sohail Afridi, Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati and other detained PTI leaders.
Background
The Centre imposed an emergency under Article 232 and governor’s rule under Article 234 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday after a federal cabinet meeting, which cited the provincial government’s “deliberate disengagement from the fight against terrorism”. Defending the move, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said it was not politically motivated but aimed at curbing terrorism. The PTI says it is left out of security decisions concerning the province, which the Centre denies. Read our earlier report on Parliament approving the emergency.
This article draws on reporting by The Express Tribune and Dawn.
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