Achakzai says ready for talks but not at PM’s House or Speaker’s chamber

ISLAMABAD: The opposition leader in National Assembly Mehmood Khan Achakzai on Thursday stopped short of ruling out talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, but made it clear that any such meeting would not take place at the Prime Minister’s House, the PM’s Office or the speaker’s chamber.

His remarks came as the government and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) traded warnings over the party’s planned October 4 march toward Islamabad, with the prospect of emergency or Governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa adding another dangerous edge to an already tense political standoff.

Speaking to reporters outside Parliament House after a meeting of opposition parties, Achakzai questioned the legitimacy of the prime minister’s mandate.

He said he was prepared to meet anywhere in the country.

“I am ready to sit anywhere in Pakistan, under any tree,” he said. “I am ready to visit the house of any party leader, but I will not go to the speaker’s house, the Prime Minister’s House or the prime minister’s chamber.”

The remarks came in response to a question about an invitation from PM’s Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah for Achakzai and PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan to sit down with the prime minister.

Achakzai also attached a condition to any meeting with Sharif: he first wanted to meet jailed PTI founder and former prime minister Imran Khan.

The prospect of a meeting between the prime minister and the opposition leader has assumed greater significance as the government and PTI dig in over the October 4 protest. The Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Aain-e-Pakistan (TTAP), headed by Achakzai and including the PTI, has announced that it will participate in the protest.

The PTI, meanwhile, has remained resolute about proceeding with the march, turning the planned mobilisation into the latest flashpoint between the federal government and the party.

Earlier on Thursday, Sanaullah disclosed that the government and PTI were engaged in “off-the-record talks” over the proposed march, but warned that the authorities had made arrangements to prevent protesters from entering Islamabad.

“If they do not postpone it, we have arrangements in place to stop them,” he said.

He likened the proposed march to a “provincial government attacking the capital,” arguing that while political parties could stage protests, a provincial government could not use state machinery for such an action.

“The law will be enacted in full force, and they will be barred from entering Islamabad,” he said.

Sanaullah said Governor’s rule in KP remained “on the table” and that the federal government was consulting its coalition partners on the option. He said any such move would require parliamentary approval.

He also accused the KP chief minister of failing to perform his responsibilities as the province’s chief executive, alleging that the provincial government had focused on the Islamabad march rather than development, counterterrorism and public welfare.

“They want to take ladders to Islamabad to secure the release of a certain someone,” he said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026