ISLAMABAD — The Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has made the striking claim that the peace talks now taking place in Pakistan were first envisioned by Imran Khan in 2002, prompting fresh debate over the increasingly grand claims made by his political allies.
پاکستان میں جو امن مذاکرات ہو رہے ہیں اِس کی بات عمران خان نے 2002 میں کی تھی جس پر آج 24 برس کے بعد عمل کیا جا رہا ہے۔ عمران خان اِن سب سے 24 برس آگے ہے۔
وزیرِ اعلیٰ خیبرپختونخوا سہیل آفریدی pic.twitter.com/8OyVGoaas3
— The Thursday Times (@thursday_times) April 19, 2026
Sohail Afridi said that negotiations currently unfolding on Pakistani soil were first mentioned by Mr Khan nearly a quarter of a century ago, adding that the former prime minister was “24 years ahead of all this”.
The comments offered no specific detail about what proposal was allegedly made in 2002, nor how remarks from that period directly anticipated the present diplomatic effort, which involves a vastly different regional landscape, new power centres and crises that did not yet exist.
Pakistan at the time was under the rule of Pervez Musharraf, months after the September 11 attacks, and entering a period defined by the United States-led war in Afghanistan. Mr Khan, then outside power, was a growing opposition figure but held no role in shaping state diplomacy.
Even by the standards of Pakistan’s personality-driven politics, where leaders are often cast in sweeping historical terms, the suggestion that today’s negotiations were effectively outlined in 2002 struck many observers as expansive.
The episode reflects how even sensitive diplomatic developments in Pakistan are often folded into domestic political rivalry, with competing camps seeking ownership of events that typically depend on military channels, foreign governments and shifting geopolitical interests.
