PTI boycotts KP governor-hosted APC over fatal Kurram violence.

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has stated that it will boycott the all-party conference (APC) called by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi in response to recent tribal skirmishes that killed at least 133 people and wounded 186 others.

The all-party meeting, called to guarantee long-term peace in the province, will take place tomorrow (Thursday) at 10 a.m., the KP Governor House spokeswoman stated on Wednesday.

“The PPP [Pakistan Peoples Party] has no mandate in KP it wants to hold a lifeless exhibitory meeting to portray itself as a democratic party,” the former ruling party claimed in a statement released the day before the APC.

It further claimed that the PPP was “actively supporting” the government’s sinister purpose of banning the PTI, as well as “rounding up” its workers and supporters in Sindh.

Separately, PTI spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram stated that the decision was made due to the PPP’s “silence on massacre of unarmed and peaceful civilians” — alluding to the party’s charges of “straight firing” on protestors in Islamabad.

Governor Kundi told a news conference that at least 16 political parties had confirmed their attendance at the meeting on Kurram riots.

On November 21, 52 people were killed in a confrontation started by an ambush on two separate convoys escorted by police. Despite efforts to mediate a ceasefire, hostilities between the warring tribes continued to intensify.

Finally, on December 1, two warring tribes agreed to a cease-fire, according to the deputy commissioner. “Armed tribesmen have been removed from firing positions, and police and forces have been deployed [in the region],” the DC stated in a statement.

In today’s news conference, KP Governor stated that they will release a declaration of the all-party meeting and present their requests to the Centre.

He went on to say that a delegate from the jirga will be nominated and would meet with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir, and the corps commander in Peshawar.

“We have to work for the establishment of law and order in the province,” he added, adding that no “terrorist political group” would be allowed to take over the region.

He also chastised the previous ruling party for “ignoring” the Kurram skirmishes and focussing on the Islamabad march. “The people of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan have totally rejected the PTI’s agitational politics due to its negative politicking and kept a distance from it,” he told journalists.