Govt-PTI talks 3rd round likely on Jan 15

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ISLAMABAD:

The PTI and the government's negotiation teams are expected to meet on Wednesday—after the former's possible meeting with Imran Khan at Adiala Jail—for the third round of the ongoing talks between the two sides to bring an end to a longstanding political crisis.

According to sources, amid a deadlock which the two sides blamed on each other, Speaker Sadiq on Saturday held a telephonic conversation with NA Leader of Opposition Omar Ayub and former NA speaker Asad Qaiser in response to a text message sent by Ayub.

During this communication, the PTI negotiation team members complained that they are not allowed to meet party founder Imran Khan, a meeting crucial ahead of further talks with the government.

In response, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq reiterated his stance that arranging such meetings was neither his responsibility in the past, nor is it now. However, he assured them that he would make efforts to facilitate a meeting between the negotiating team and the PTI founder. They said later Sadiq contacted the government side to arrange a meeting for PTI's negotiating team with the PTI founder in jail.

The sources claimed that the meeting would likely take place within the next two days, allowing the third round of negotiations between the government coalition and PTI teams to proceed on Wednesday. During this round, the PTI team is expected to present its written demands.

Ahead of this development, Ayaz Sadiq said in a statement that it was not his responsibility to arrange a meeting between incarcerated former PM Imran Khan and his party's negotiation committee.

"My job is to facilitate talks between the government and the PTI only," he said.

While shifting the burden on the ruling coalition, he noted that the government and its allies should decide if a meeting can take place or not, saying he was ready to accommodate any requests.

On the delay in calling the third meeting between the two sides, Sadiq said neither the opposition nor the government has contacted him to convene a meeting of the negotiation committees yet.

Sadiq said, "The government and its allies must decide whether the meeting can take place or not", adding "whenever the parties agree, I am ready to convene a meeting on one or two days' notice."

He also suggested that PTI leaders can directly communicate to the government's representatives, including Prime Minister's Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah on the delay in meeting.

In the previous meeting between the two sides on January 2, the PTI had sought more time with a commitment that it would present its charter of demands in the third round provided its granted access to jailed party founder Imran Khan.

Till Friday, the party's negotiation committee was not allowed to meet Imran, forcing it to not only question the government's authority to hold meaningful talks.

PTI leaders said the government had promised to arrange a meeting between the party's committee and its founder but had not facilitated the same yet, stalling progress on finalizing the charter of demands.

Even before the speaker's suggestion to have a direct contact, PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram had conveyed that PTI does not talk to the government directly, adding the party contacts the speaker office and then the speaker office talks to the government side.

"The facilitation is from the speaker's office; we don't directly deal with the government on these matters," Akram had told The Express Tribune a few days ago.

Stating that the issue was raised in the meeting with the government, Akram had said the party also approached the speaker's office but it was told that there was no response on meeting with Imran yet.

Subsequently, the speaker regretted PTI leaders' statement, stating that it was neither his mandate nor responsibility to arrange a meeting between the negotiation team and Imran Khan.

The meeting between Imran Khan and the PTI negotiation committee has become a sticking point as the party's negotiation team has not yet been allowed to have an unmonitored interaction with Imran.

This failure has led the PTI leaders to say that there will be no progress in the next meeting if the committee is not allowed to meet the party founder before the next round of talks.

The talks between the PTI and the government started on December 23 with an aim to settle the thorny issues between the two sides but things have not gone beyond optics yet.

Both sides have met twice so far but neither PTI has presented its demands in writing nor has the government side been able to arrange a meeting between the PTI committee and Imran Khan.

The initial delay in tabling the demands was attributed to PTI strategy to see the outcome of the judgment in the £190 million corruption case against Khan and others, including his wife.

The court decision was scheduled for January 6 but was then delayed till January 13, leaving the PTI to say that talks will continue even if Imran Khan is convicted in the case.

Following the January 2 meeting, the PTI started questioning the government's authority for talks when it failed to open the doors of Adiala jail for a meeting.

PTI leader Shoaib Shaheen quoted Imran Khan as saying that the PTI should hold talks directly with the powerful stakeholders as they hold the real power.

Shaheen questioned why the government started the talk process if it did not have any powers, saying the delay in allowing a meeting between Imran Khan and the party's political leadership was enough to show the government's sincerity in talks.

In a video statement posted on his official X handle earlier on Saturday, Asad Qaiser accused PML-N leaders Maryam Nawaz and Khawaja Asif of trying to sabotage the negotiation process.

"We are an oppressed party. We were persecuted [and] bullets were fired on our people," he said lamenting that the embattled party was being blamed for attempting to harm talks despite being at the receiving end of the "high-handedness".