Following PTI’s refusal to endorse a draft on terrorism, negotiations broke down: Sherry Rehman

According to Senator Sherry Rehman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) administration’s refusal to sign an agreed-upon document on counterterrorism cooperation with the federal government caused negotiations between the government and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to break down.

Rehman said in a statement on X that four versions had been decided upon during the talks, with modifications made to allay PTI’s worries. She claimed that the administration has repeatedly requested direct participation in the negotiations from the senior federal leadership of the PTI and the KP government.

Rehman claims that no member of the provincial government or the chief minister of KP attended the talks. According to her, the KP administration ought to have used the negotiating process to propose any viable alternative proposal.

After years of political conflict, she characterised the breakdown of negotiations as a lost chance to establish stability and political confidence. She claimed that great progress might have been made with better cooperation between the KP and federal administrations and direction from the high leadership of the PTI in Islamabad.

Rehman emphasised that the government side had continued to participate in the talks, saying, “This was not a unilateral matter.”

According to Rehman, the government side did not formally discontinue the conversations and continued to hold talks until the other side ceased to do so.