The PTI on Sunday asserted that the main reason for the breakdown of talks with the Centre was the latter’s insistence on “unilateral” counter-terrorism measures in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The statement by PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja comes less than a day after hours-long negotiations between an opposition delegation comprising the PTI and Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayin-i-Pakistan (TTAP) and a joint team of the government and PPP yielded no results. In a post on X, Raja wrote that the “primary reason for the failure of the talks around 3am this morning” was that the “PTI-TTAP team stood firm on its principled position that anti-terrorism actions in KPK would be based on agreement between the federal government and the KPK government”. He said the opposition want those actions to be “framed on the basis of consultation with, and the buy-in of, the different political parties represented” in the KP Assembly. “This was not acceptable to the government team, that insisted that all actions unilaterally initiated by it would have to be owned by the provincial government,” Raja asserted. “The PTI-TTAP team was clear that we have zero tolerance for terrorism and are committed to rooting it out. We also have a clear position against so-called collateral damage in the form of innocent lives and internal displacement of the local population.” Raja noted that counterterrorism policies require support from the local population and ground intelligence. “The wisdom provided by the jirga held in the KP assembly of all the political and tribal notables of the province, including the merged districts, must be heeded. “This was not acceptable to the federal government,” he wrote. In November last year, a peace jirga held at the KP Assembly, also attended by the governor, demanded that the Centre consult the KP government over Afghan policy. Tarar accuses KP govt of ‘supporting’ terrorism On the other hand, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar responded to Raja in a lengthy post on X, questioning why the KP government has not taken action against terrorism. “It is only now, when your KP government is politically weak, [that] you have started responding to the federal government’s calls for [a] joint mechanism to fight terrorism, that too only as a strategy to save your political capital in KP,” the minister alleged. “This is an old strategy of PTI, that when under pressure, they start talking of consultations and joint actions, but on [the] ground they do the exact opposite.” Accusing the KP government of “double standards and hypocrisy”, Tarar contended that while it said it was taking steps to fight terrorism, its “narrative on terrorism is in favour of terrorists”. “KPK government’s policy only encourages and supports [the] spread of terrorism in the province,” the PML-N leader alleged. Tarar questioned why the KP government had not taken steps against terrorism or convened the provincial apex committee for meetings and why it had not condemned the “TTA regime for sponsoring terrorism inside Pakistan and conduct of cross-border attacks on the posts and drone attacks by them”. “Why hasn’t the KPK Government not implemented NAP as per which clear action is required against illegal spectrum, illegal Afghan immigrants, measures for capacity enhancement of Police and [Counter-Terrorism Department]?” he added. He asked why PTI leaders did not visit checkposts of security forces and police to express their support, and whether they had taken interest in the governance and development of esrtwhile Fata. The minister urged the PTI to “stop selling this false narrative of collective consultations, jirgas or any other method, as this means nothing on [the] ground other than delaying tactics”. Tarar reiterated his comments in a televised video statement, slamming the PTI for failing to abandon “double standards and hypocrisy”, which he said resulted in deadly terrorist attacks in KP. “We were considering that they may go back on their word, and I had been saying it for the past two and a half weeks: if we are going to talk, then who should we talk to? And if we talk, what guarantee do we have that they will honour their word?” the minister asked. He accused the PTI of taking U-turns and “expressing pride in them”, as well as failing to maintain a steady stance on the issue of protecting the lives and property of KP’s residents. “Now different statements are emerging: Salman Akram Raja is saying one thing; [Adviser to KP Chief Minister on Information] Shafi Jan is saying that they want to change the policy on terrorism,” he added. “What is your policy? Does it even exist?” Tarar alleged: “The only policy you have is deliberately supporting terrorism. Your policy is how you can elevate terrorists, how you can build a political terror-crime nexus and how you can spread terrorism across the province. “I said earlier that you have to decide whether you stand with Pakistan or Afghanistan. You take the benefits of Pakistan, but are in favour of Afghanistan.” “The policy change they are talking about is to give terrorists cover and protection,” Tarar further claimed. He said people of KP were being killed in terrorist incidents because KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi “wants to free one prisoner”. “Lives have been wasted and people have been martyred because the province’s CM prioritises the release of one convicted prisoner,” he insisted. “This is why I say they (PTI) are TTP’s (Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan) B-team and TTA’s (Afghan Taliban) C-team,” the PML-N leader alleged. The minister further accused the KP government of having a “pro-terrorism mindset”, which he contended had contributed to a failure to prevent terrorist attacks and cross-border firing from Afghanistan. “Because their mindset is pro-terrorism, then they don’t care that security forces, armed forces, police, and thousands of officers and troops have been martyred,” Tarar claimed. “They cannot even honour their martyrs … They burned the Chagai monument in Peshawar. This is a terrorist mindset; can they stop terrorism with this mindset in govt? No, they never will,” the minister asserted. The minister continued denouncing the PTI, accusing it of not building a forensic lab or creating a Counter-Terrorism Department, failing to install Safe City cameras and being unable to fortify police check posts. “You’ll be surprised to know that since they took power, they have received over Rs700 billion for counter-terrorism under the NFC Award,” Tarar claimed, adding that it is “extra”. “This year, if you look at the figures, they have earmarked Rs45bn for police capacity building and counter-terrorism, but only released Rs1.5bn. The rest is for salaries and expenses. Is this how the war on terrorism will be fought?” he asked. Earlier on Sunday, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said that the weekend talks collapsed as the PTI had initiated its long march, accusing KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi of “sabotaging” the negotiations. “Their team was reasonable. I am repeating that I will not blame anyone else for all of this collapsing. There is only one person responsible for the entire collapse, and that is the KP chief minister,” the interior minister declared. He further said that Afridi was to be responsible “if there is any loss of life”. He said those supporting the PTI leader should “realise that they will be committing contempt of court, and we will take legal action against them to every possible extent”.