Government Demands PTI End Long March; Party to Reply by Tomorrow, Says Gharidah Farooqi
Islamabad (Qudrat): Senior journalist Gharidah Farooqi says that, according to her information, the government has asked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to end the long march, and that PTI will respond on the matter by tomorrow. PTI has been told to give an assurance that it will not march on Islamabad in future.
In a post on X, Gharidah Farooqi said talks between the government and Tehreek-e-Insaf could not succeed today.
According to her information so far, the government made a clear demand that PTI end the long march and give a firm assurance that it would not, under any circumstances, march on Islamabad again. In the third round of talks, Mohsin Naqvi presented a detailed charge sheet against the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government over its failure to deal with terrorism and its failure to establish governance.
It also came under discussion in the third round that the federation has the option of emergency or governor’s rule if the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa does not set matters right. Tehreek-e-Insaf once again raised the issue of access to Imran Khan. PTI will reply by tomorrow on whether it is ending the long march or not, government sources say.
Farooqi said this was the information she had so far. Her assessment, however, is that it will be extremely difficult for these talks to succeed, or for PTI and Afridi to end the long march. It is also possible that the long march may be given another form and remain confined within the limits of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In any case, PTI and the KP government will have to surrender before the writ of the state, and the provincial government cannot run in opposition to the policies of the state.
Government–PTI talks have been postponed until 2pm tomorrow. The future of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is in PTI’s own hands. If it accepts the conditions, it can save the government; it will have to move with the state.
