Seeking inclusion: PTI signals willingness to name its panel representative
Arif Alvi says govt position similar to PTI, calls for keeping KP CM in loop.
Dr Arif Alvi said, “We want the government to be on strong footing, it should not take any step in haste or under some pressure.” PHOTO: PPI/FILE
ISLAMABAD:
With the government exploring options for reconstituting the four-member team tasked with negotiating with the Taliban, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has expressed its willingness to be a part of the process to make it effective and result-oriented.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who has started reaching out to mainstream political parties for their opinion, held a detailed discussion on the subject with PTI chief Imran Khan on Sunday, it was revealed.
While details of the conversation between the two have not been divulged, PTI sources told The Express Tribune that the PTI chairman had agreed to have its representative in a reconstituted negotiation committee.
Commenting on the issue, senior PTI leader, Dr Arif Alvi said, “We want the government to be on strong footing, it should not take any step in haste or under some pressure.”
Alvi said that his party chief had taken the initiative and resumed contacts with the government over the issue. In this regard Imran Khan had also discussed the matter with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he added.
He said that the government’s point of view, at this juncture, was similar to the PTI. “Our position is that there should be action against those [factions of Taliban] who do not want to talk and are not observing the ceasefire,” he added.
Responding to a question, Alvi said that the government’s committee must be “powerful” and it must have the “army’s support and information all the time.” He said that the government should keep Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Pervaiz Khattak in the loop during the negotiation process and repeated that a PTI representative, Rustam Shah Mohmand, was already a part of the previous four-member committee announced by the Prime Minister.
Earlier, while addressing the National Assembly the last week, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar had said that a new committee would constitute representatives from the federal government and the provincial government of K-P.
Meanwhile, the question of whether a new committee will be constituted at all still remains unanswered by the government. The proposal for a new committee had arisen after the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced a unilateral ceasefire, calling for the government to directly initiate talks with the TTP without intermediaries.
The decision to hold direct talks with the TTP followed a breakfast meeting by Prime Minister with members of both the government and the Taliban peace committees. However, reports claimed the proposal for reconstituting the government’s negotiation committee came after differences of opinion emerged among the members of the government’s existing committee.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 10th, 2014.
With the government exploring options for reconstituting the four-member team tasked with negotiating with the Taliban, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has expressed its willingness to be a part of the process to make it effective and result-oriented.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who has started reaching out to mainstream political parties for their opinion, held a detailed discussion on the subject with PTI chief Imran Khan on Sunday, it was revealed.
While details of the conversation between the two have not been divulged, PTI sources told The Express Tribune that the PTI chairman had agreed to have its representative in a reconstituted negotiation committee.
Commenting on the issue, senior PTI leader, Dr Arif Alvi said, “We want the government to be on strong footing, it should not take any step in haste or under some pressure.”
Alvi said that his party chief had taken the initiative and resumed contacts with the government over the issue. In this regard Imran Khan had also discussed the matter with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he added.
He said that the government’s point of view, at this juncture, was similar to the PTI. “Our position is that there should be action against those [factions of Taliban] who do not want to talk and are not observing the ceasefire,” he added.
Responding to a question, Alvi said that the government’s committee must be “powerful” and it must have the “army’s support and information all the time.” He said that the government should keep Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Pervaiz Khattak in the loop during the negotiation process and repeated that a PTI representative, Rustam Shah Mohmand, was already a part of the previous four-member committee announced by the Prime Minister.
Earlier, while addressing the National Assembly the last week, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar had said that a new committee would constitute representatives from the federal government and the provincial government of K-P.
Meanwhile, the question of whether a new committee will be constituted at all still remains unanswered by the government. The proposal for a new committee had arisen after the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced a unilateral ceasefire, calling for the government to directly initiate talks with the TTP without intermediaries.
The decision to hold direct talks with the TTP followed a breakfast meeting by Prime Minister with members of both the government and the Taliban peace committees. However, reports claimed the proposal for reconstituting the government’s negotiation committee came after differences of opinion emerged among the members of the government’s existing committee.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 10th, 2014.