Ninth sitting: Government hopes to lure opposition to talks table by early Sept

PTI believes govt should be given one last chance, says Shireen Mazari

ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday expressed optimism for bringing major opposition parties back to the negotiating table over Panama leaks by the start of September, but the arbitrary deadline looks highly likely to slip again in the wake of opposition’s protest plan.

The government’s top negotiators – Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Speaker of the National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq – recently tried to push opposition leaders towards resuming stalled talks through a parliamentary committee but in vain.

The government wanted opposition leaders to agree to attend the proposed ninth sitting of the parliamentary committee in the first week of September, said a senior PML-N leader who declined to be named. He said, so far, there was no response from the PTI and PPP.

On August 17, leaders of opposition parties met Ayaz Sadiq on his request in an effort to break the stalemate.

PTI had already hinted at conditional resumption of talks. PTI’s chief whip in the National Assembly Shireen Mazari told The Express Tribune that the party believed that the government should be given one last chance by participating in the proposed ninth meeting.

She, however, reiterated that the opposition would not withdraw from its primary demand of initiating accountability with the PM and his family. She said that investigations would only be acceptable if they were conducted under terms of reference (TORs) suggested by the joint opposition.

Within the nine-party opposition alliance, the PPP, PTI, PML-Q, JI and Sheikh Rashid-led Awami Muslim League (AML) support the idea of holding the PM and his family members accountable before everyone else.

However, other opposition parties, including the MQM, ANP, and QWP-S call for not making the draft of ToRs person-specific.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2016.