Govt has kept 'all doors of dialogue open' with opposition: parliamentary secretary

Parliamentary Secretary for Information and Broadcasting Barrister Danyal Chaudhry said on Monday that the government had kept 'all doors of dialogue open' with the opposition, saying that the government's policy had consistently been to resolve political differences through dialogue and reconciliation. Addressing a news conference in Islamabad alongside Prime Minister's (PM) Coordinator for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Affairs Ikhtiar Wali Khan, Chaudhry said the government had engaged the opposition "with full sincerity" during negotiations involving PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Salman Akram Raja, Aamir Dogar and other opposition leaders. "The government's policy has always been clear that we want to take matters forward through reconciliation," Danyal said. He, however, accused the PTI of failing to establish a clear decision-making structure, claiming it remained uncertain who ultimately had the authority to negotiate on behalf of the party. "To this day, their party has not been able to identify with whom negotiations should be held, when they should be held and whose decision can actually be considered final. Sometimes the sisters take the lead, sometimes the K-P government takes the lead, and sometimes the opposition party takes the lead," he added, accusing PTI leaders of misleading their supporters. Read More: No breakthrough after marathon PTI-govt talks Chaudhry said the government had kept "all doors of dialogue open" and claimed that several drafts had effectively been finalised before differences emerged from K-P. "We engaged them with complete sincerity and kept every possible door to dialogue open. As the interior minister has also explained, despite our engagement with them, the drafts had been finalised, and then a voice came from K-P and dismantled the entire process," he added. Chaudhry accused the PTI of relying on what he described as politics based on anger and division rather than governance. "A party whose only narrative is hatred and setting things on fire has nothing else to sell. It has no performance to show," he added. Turning to the PTI government's record in K-P, he cited the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit project and the province's tree plantation initiatives. "In the province, they basically have two things to show. One is the BRT, which was supposed to be built for Rs6 billion and has crossed Rs100 billion, and the other is the trees they were supposed to plant," he said. یہ آج تک واضح نہیں ہو سکا کہ پی ٹی آئی میں مذاکرات کے لیے حتمی اتھارٹی کون ہے، دانیال چوہدری#DaniyalChaudhary #PTI #PoliticalDialogue #Negotiations pic.twitter.com/bnTzlI9LDn — APP (@appcsocialmedia) October 5, 2026 Chaudhry said the government's priority during the negotiations had been accommodation rather than seeking merely to delay the march, arguing that the central concern remained deteriorating law and order in KP. He cited figures claiming that around 2,456 terrorism-related incidents had taken place in K-P during 2026, resulting in 472 deaths. "The people of that province are living through extremely difficult conditions," he said. He also criticised the provincial leadership for participating in the protest while K-P faced militant violence. "When the chief minister and ministers are standing on top of vehicles, who is running the province. In the very province where they boast of their power and raise their fists, who are they showing those fists to?" he said. Chaudhry also accused the PTI of repeatedly changing its political messaging. "Sometimes it is a Pashtun touch, sometimes a religious touch, sometimes employment, and sometimes the State of Madinah," he said. Responding to PTI's argument that the provincial government had not been given adequate space to formulate an effective counterterrorism strategy, Chaudhry pointed to the party's prolonged tenure in K-P. Referring to the PTI government, he said, "They say they were not allowed to formulate a policy against terrorism," he said. "You have had 13 years. For 13 years you have been sitting there." Chaudhry said police personnel fighting terrorists in the province were protecting the Pashtun population rather than targeting it. He sought to contrast K-P's approach with those of the other provinces. "The line between us and you is this: look at what Sindh is doing, what Punjab is doing and what Balochistan is doing. What are you doing?" he said. "We have to eliminate terrorism, whatever the cost." Also Read: Naqvi blames K-P CM for talks ‘collapse’, warns Afridi will ‘be responsible’ if anyone dies during march Chaudhry also alleged that PTI's political direction was influenced from across the Afghan border, telling the party: "Your remote control is in Afghanistan." Speaking at the same news conference, PM Coordinator for K-P said the government had accommodated the opposition's political demands during negotiations but claimed PTI withdrew when a firm counterterrorism framework came under discussion. Khan had made a similar claim a day earlier, saying the government had accepted the demands brought by PTI negotiators but that the opposition changed its position when asked to support decisive measures against militancy. He accused the PTI leadership of placing its political campaign above the security situation in the province and questioned why the K-P government had not prioritised what he described as the most serious issue facing its residents.