PTI begins Islamabad long march after talks breakdown

PESHAWAR; The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has begun its long march towards Islamabad from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat after talks with the federal government failed to break the deadlock. KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi set off from Lakki Marwat’s Gandi Chowk, saying he would announce his next course of action on Thursday, October 8, when the party’s convoy reaches Khairabad. PTI and a delegation from the government and PPP held three rounds of talks but on Sunday morning, they finally broke down, with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi clarifying that “talks have collapsed” and that the KP CM was behind their sabotage. Meanwhile, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja claimed that the primary reason for the failure of overnight talks was the federal government’s insistence that all anti-terrorism actions it unilaterally initiated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa must be owned by the provincial government. Party workers from Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan and surrounding districts had gathered in Lakki Marwat ahead of the march. A heavy police contingent was also deployed in the area for security. Afridi had travelled from Peshawar to Lakki Marwat to lead the march, accompanied by PTI leaders including Junaid Akbar. The convoy will camp near Karak on Sunday night before participants from Karak join it on Monday. The march will then move towards Kohat, Peshawar and Charsadda over the following days. The government has maintained that it would not allow the PTI to resort to violence, saying that the party had created a law and order situation whenever it entered the federal capital.  The interior minister said that all those gathering for the sit-in would face a complete legal process and trial if they violated the law. He reiterated that the government had made it clear that no one would be permitted to storm the federal capital.  “The long march has already begun, and we will not spare anyone who violates the law,” he said, adding that he stood by his previous statements on the matter.  The PTI has said it will march towards the federal capital to demand the release of its founder, Imran Khan, and seek the “supremacy of law and the Constitution”.CM Afridi said that on Thursday, October 8, the caravan would depart from the Charsadda interchange at 12:30pm, where caravans from Charsadda and Mohmand would join. “People from across K-P would gather at Khairabad on October 8 and stay there overnight. The next phase of the long march will also be announced at Khairabad,” he added. No breakthrough after marathon PTI-govt talks. Marathon talks between the government and opposition on Saturday failed to find a middle ground in an effort to break the deadlock over the PTI’s long march, as both sides pressed competing demands and remained at an impasse. The talks, chaired by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, followed an initial round on Friday in which the two sides exchanged their positions but failed to reach an agreement. The government wanted the PTI to take the initiative by cancelling the march, while the opposition wanted the government to first facilitate a meeting with its jailed founder, according to sources familiar with the talks.