Faisalabad fiasco: Alvi sees no chances of talks with govt

Alvi says political situation was going from bad to worse and would worsen further due to government’s attitude

PESHAWAR:

The violent clashes between workers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) in Faisalabad have dimmed the prospects of talks between the government and Imran Khan’s party.

“Talks cannot be held while our workers are being killed,” PTI’s central leader Dr Arif Alvi told an emergency news conference in Peshawar following the death of a PTI activist in Faisalabad. “Personally, I don’t see any chances of talks [with the government],” Alvi said but hastened to add that PTI’s core committee would take a final decision in its meeting on Tuesday.

He said the PTI had been waiting for the last 87 days for the government to resume negotiations which it didn’t. The government is pushing the country towards street agitation, he alleged. The last round of talks between the two sides was held on September 11 and since then the government has been dilly-dallying on negotiations, he added.

Alvi said the political situation was going from bad to worse and it would worsen further due to the government’s attitude. The government could have avoided the ongoing civil unrest if it had taken the lead from the K-P government which had showed restraint on November 30 when JUI-F workers had tried to block the roads leading to Islamabad.

“Election tribunals decide disputes between two political parties. But PTI’s objection is why millions of extra ballot papers had been printed for the 2013 elections,” Alvi said. “It’s a responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold free and fair elections,” he added. “The chief election commissioner should have fulfilled his responsibility.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2014.