Islamabad:
In the midst of the changing positions of Pakistan Tehreek-E-insaf (PTI) on talks with the coalition government led by the Muslim Pakistani league (PML-N), the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Sharif.
The Prime Minister said that communication and dialogue between political parties were the soul of democracy, adding that these communications have helped develop a common strategy to solve the problems encountered by the country and the nation.
The Prime Minister’s declaration occurred in the PTI’s decision to boycott negotiations, then bind them to the announcement of the alliance to the power to establish two separate judicial commissions to investigate May 9, 2023 and 26 November 2024.
He also came at a time when PTI management has already announced that it would not attend the fourth cycle of talks to be held on January 28 (today), if his requests were not accepted. The government has not yet accepted any requests from the PTI, including the release of political prisoners.
“Avoid dialogue reflects an undemocratic attitude, promotes an environment of tension and harms the spirit of national unity,” said Shehbaz at a meeting with the spokesman for the government’s negotiation committee, Senator Irfan Siddiqui, at the Prime Minister’s office.
Shehbaz stressed that Pakistan needed reconciliation and harmony rather than chaos, confrontation and conflict. He stressed the importance of adopting a unified strategy to tackle critical problems, such as the reconstruction of the national economy and the eradication of terrorism.
The Prime Minister also said that the country was progressing and that its world stature improved. “No one will be authorized to hinder this development and progress journey through undemocratic practices,” said Shehbaz.
The Siddiqui senator had called on the Prime Minister to inform him of the negotiations held with the PTI Committee, so far. The government and the opposition have held three series of talks, including so far, including their young parliays on December 23, 2024.
The first two meetings could not exceed the optics, but during the third meeting, the PTI finally submitted in the charter of requests to the government. The PTI negotiation committee only submitted requests after their meeting with the founder of PTI imprisoned Imran Khan in Adiala prison.
The PTI charter included two main requests – the training of two judicial commissions; And “support” of federal and provincial governments in the release on bond, the suspensions of the convictions and the acquittals of “political prisoners” identified by the PTI.
The PTI Charter had declared that requests were presented as a “prerequisite for wider negotiations with regard to the restoration of the Constitution, the rule of law, respect for the mandate of the people and the free and fair elections” .
However, seven days after the third round, the founder of the PTI suddenly canceled the dialogue, on the grounds that the government had not accepted its requests within one week. Siddiqui, however, had called the unilateral decision to boycott the “unhappy” talks.
Siddiqui had declared that the PTI itself had agreed in the joint declaration published after the third meeting that the government would respond to its requests within “seven working days”. He had subsequently urged the PTI to examine his decision.
One day after announcing the end of the talks, the president of the PTI, the lawyer Gohar Ali Khan Commission.
Despite the PTI announcement of the boycott, the president of the National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq called a meeting of the negotiation committees on January 28 (today) at 11:45 am in Parliament. Siddiqui had declared to the media that the government’s response would be presented at the meeting.
For her part, President Ayaz Sadiq, who is the main figure of these talks, phoned the head of the PTI negotiation committee, Omar Ayub and invited him to the meeting with the government team on Tuesday (today ).
In his conversation, the speaker stressed that dialogue was the only viable solution to solve all problems, stressing the importance of finding common ground on disputed issues through table discussions and negotiations.
Ayub expressed its concerns about the government’s use of delaying tactics in the processing of PTI requests. He insisted that the negotiations could not take place without the training of the judicial commissions, which remained a critical request from the PTI.
Commenting on these developments, the spokesman for the government committee, senator Siddiqui, told a private news channel that the government also dissolved its negotiation committee if the PTI had not attended the next meeting.
Currently, the two parties emphasize the importance of dialogue but simultaneously hold their respective prerequisites; resulting in a dead end. The president of the PTI, the lawyer Gohar, repeated on Monday that they would not participate in talks and that the decision had been officially transmitted.
