ISLAMABAD, Oct 21: Expressing disappointment over the continued delay in initiating dialogue with the Taliban, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leadership said on Monday the PTI should have asked the ruling PML-N at the Sept 9 all-party conference to set a deadline for holding the talks .

At recent closed-door meetings, the PTI leadership admitted that it had not insisted on time-bound talks at the APC. As a result, the government has so far, at least on the face of it, not made any concrete move towards talks with militants.

The delay is taking a heavy toll on the PTI which is the main part of the ruling coalition in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Since the May 11 elections, the party has lost three of its lawmakers to militant attacks, including a minister who was killed on the first day of Eidul Azha.

A senior PTI leader told Dawn that during the meetings some members were of the view that party chairman Imran Khan, who had attended the APC, should have pushed for a deadline for negotiations.

At one meeting, he said, Mr Khan had accepted the mistake but promised to build pressure on the government for holding immediate talks with the Taliban.

Mr Khan said he hoped the government after getting a go-ahead from all political forces would take the issue seriously, but unfortunately the matter had been put on the back-burner.

When contacted, Dr Shireen Mazari, PTI information secretary and spokesperson for the party chief, said: “It should have been obvious to the government and other parties as it was to us that there was an urgency and imperative to move decisively on this immediately after the APC’s resolution. Otherwise, saboteurs of peace will be more active which they did because the government seemed immobilised.” After offering condolence to the family over the death of provincial law minister Israrullah Khan Gandapur, Mr Khan had urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to play a lead role in holding talks with militants.

On the other hand, spokesperson for the PML-N and federal Information Minister Senator Parvez Rashid has been claiming that talks with the Taliban are on the right track.

But on ground, there is no let-up in terrorist attacks and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the main target.

In a statement on Monday, Dr Mazari criticised Prime Minister Sharif’s remarks in the United States that after the mandate given to the federal government by the APC, “talks had begun”, but were derailed because “violence erupted”.

“This is a blatant false statement; the prime minister is not telling the truth,” she said, adding the truth was that the government had not moved at all to implement the APC resolution and that terrorism and violence had not erupted suddenly but had been prevalent with growing intensity.

“That was why the APC sought dialogue to give peace a chance,” she said. She said that failure to implement the APC decision was one of the reasons that terrorists had felt emboldened and increased their attacks as they sensed a lack of resolve on the part of the government.