At long last, govt and PTI on talking terms

Pakistan's political landscape is poised for improvement as the government prepares to engage in dialogue with opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) negotiators at Parliament House on Monday (today).

The dialogue became possible after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formed an eight-member committee for the talks with the PTI at the request of the National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq.

The committee, led by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, comprises parliamentarians from the ruling coalition, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q).

The members are: Rana Sanaullah and Irfan Siddiqui of the PML-Nawaz, Raja Pervez Ashraf and Naveed Qamar of the PPP, Dr Khalid Maqbool of the MQM-P, Aleem Khan of the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) and Chaudhry Salik Hussain of the PML-Q.

The committee will hold talks with a PTI negotiating team, comprising Omar Ayub, Asad Qaiser, Salman Akram Raja, Ali Amin Khan Gandapur and Sahibzada Hamid Raza. The PTI founder Imran Khan had formed the team earlier this month.

Imran had put forward his two demands: release of under-trial political prisoners and a judicial investigation into the May 9 incidents and the November 26 crackdown on PTI protesters, otherwise a civil disobedience movement would be launched.

However, the government side had been dragging its feet on the issue of the talks with the opposition, saying that the negotiations could not take place with pre-conditions and under the shadow of any threat.

The latest development came on the advice of Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, who had been approached by the PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar. Sadiq welcomed formation of the government committee and convened a meeting in his chamber on Monday (today).

The Speaker said that the Prime Minister's initiative to resolve issues through talks was welcome and he had invited the government and the opposition to the talks in good faith. "The doors of the Speaker's Office are always open to members," he said.

"Progress can only be achieved through talks and dialogue. To take the process forward, the members of both committees have been invited to meet tomorrow, [today] at 11:30am. I will meet the members of both committees in my chamber."

Prime Minister Shehbaz appreciated the efforts of the speaker for national cohesion and expressed the hope that national solidarity and national interests would be held supreme during the talks with PTI. "Pakistan is the reason of our existence," he said.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Omar Ayub welcomed the formation of the government's negotiation committee and expressed the hope that all issues would be resolved in the shortest possible time.

Later, the National Assembly Secretariat issued a notification for an in-camera meeting for the talks between the government and the opposition at the Parliament House at 11:30am on Monday. "The meeting will be held under the chairmanship of National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq," it said.