A grand jirga organized by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government and attended by senior federal government officials, including Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, on Thursday empowered Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur to hold talks with the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) and resolve all issues through consensus.
Hosted at C.M. House, the Jirga was also attended by Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, federal minister Amir Muqam, various lawmakers of the provincial assembly and representatives of all major political parties. The participants discussed the prevailing political and security situation of the province and decided to allow the now-banned PTM to proceed with its three-day Pashtun Qaumi Jirga—with some caveats.
In a statement issued after the meeting, Gandapur announced he was forming a new Jirga led by him to engage in talks with all dissenting parties and resolve the province’s political and security crises. It said the chief minister had thanked the participants of the grand Jirga for empowering him to hold dialogue and emphasized that necessary steps for peaceful resolution of all KP’s issues would be completed at the earliest.
While the meeting was held in-camera, sources said Gandapur had offered to personally lead talks with the PTM, which was banned by the federal government earlier this week for allegedly attempting to establish a parallel court system. Following the ban, the KP government withdrew permission for the Pashtun Qaumi Jirga and a subsequent clash between the group’s supports and police led to the deaths of four PTM workers, while 14 others were injured.
Pointing to the clash, Gandapur urged all participants to avoid any further action until he had attempted dialogue. Naqvi, claimed the sources, assured the chief minister that the federal government supported consensus through dialogue. He also conveyed to Gandapur that there would be no implementation of his earlier warning of prosecution for anyone who facilitates the PTM following its banning,