PESHAWAR: Just a day after declaring to send a delegation to Afghanistan to sue for peace and end the violence plaguing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Thursday urged the federal government to send a jirga to Kabul to establish lasting peace in the region.

As the Foreign Office and his political opponents skewered CM Gandapur over his bid to unilaterally lead peace talks with Afghanistan, accusing him of exceeding his authority, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister met with the Afghan Taliban Consul General in Peshawar to discuss matters related to regional peace, trade and Afghan refugees, among other things, an official statement said.

The meeting with Hafiz Mohibullah Shaaki was held at the KP CM office, but it was not clear who made the request for the meeting.

It came on the heels of a fiery speech by Mr Gandapur, who threatened to chart his own policy to negotiate directly with the Afghan Taliban to put an end to terrorism in the province.

Gandapur meets Afghan envoy in Peshawar; FO says talks with other countries ‘sole domain of federal government’

A day earlier, in a hard-hitting speech to lawyers and parliamentarians, the KP chief minister had railed against the establishment, accusing it of being indifferent to the bloodshed in his province.

“Because of the war on terrorism, people on both sides have suffered,” he told Mr Shaaki during their meeting on Thursday.

“Regional peace is in the interest of both Pakistan and Afghanistan,” the statement quoted him as saying. “Now is the time to make serious efforts for lasting peace in the region.”

FO criticism

Also on Thursday, the Foreign Office unequivocally stated that conducting diplomatic negotiations with foreign governments is the sole domain of the federal government.

“I would like to affirm what you had just said, that the foreign policy is a federal subject; and secondly, it is the prerogative of the Government of Pakistan to pursue its foreign policy,” FO Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at the weekly media briefing.

In her comments on CM Gandapur’s plan, Ms Baloch said proposals put forth by any public figure in Pakistan will be given due consideration by the government, which will then make decisions that prioritise the country’s national interests.

Ms Baloch, however, noted that the issue was premature for the FO to comment at this stage. “When such a proposal comes before the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we would be able to comment on them,” she said.

Criticism from rivals

Earlier, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif criticised the chief minister’s statement, calling it a “direct attack on the federation”.

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“No province has the authority to hold direct talks with any foreign country,” he said on the floor of the National Assembly.

“The path taken by the CM and his party is venomous for the people of Pakistan,” Mr Asif added.

Meanwhile, senior PPP leader and former senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar took to X to voice his discontent regarding CM Gan­dapur’s remarks. Calling them “frivolo­us”, Mr Khokhar said, “We may disagree with the politics of the institutions and their policies, but the federation comes first.”

Defence of CM’s words

In an appearance on Geo News, PTI leader and lawyer Sardar Latif Khosa said that both the party and its founder Imran Khan stood with Mr Gandapur, but conceded that the chief minister “said a little too much about journalists, though”.

Talking about the CM’s stance on talks with Afghanistan, he said: “Look at how frequent transit and trade is across that border. Hundreds of thousands of people have crossed over, especially after 9/11.”

“If the CM has said in the Apex Committee meeting that his province is affected the most… or people are infiltrating our side of the border, it is unfortunate that the establishment is standing with this Form-47 government,” Mr Khosa said.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2024