KP CM Sohail Afridi Offers Talks Ahead of Planned Long March

• Sohail Afridi urged the federal government to begin negotiations before the planned march.
• He said his government had sought contact with state institutions for nine months without receiving a response.
• The chief minister accused the authorities of obstructing dialogue, a claim presented without evidence in his remarks.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has offered to hold talks with the federal government ahead of a planned long march, saying his government remains ready to resolve the dispute through dialogue.

Speaking to senior journalists, Afridi urged the government to negotiate while there was still time before the march. “If negotiations are going to take place later as well, why not hold them now?” he asked.

Afridi said he had been open to talks previously and had not changed his position. He claimed that his government had approached several state institutions over the past nine months but received no response, prompting the call for a march on September 27.

The chief minister also alleged that those in power were preventing an understanding between his government and the establishment. He claimed the country was being run under a “one-man policy” and described Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi as its representative.