The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Monday decided in principle to resume the stalled talks with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in a bid to end a four-month-long political standoff in the country.
The decision came a day after PTI chairman Imran Khan threatened to paralyse major cities and then a nationwide shutdown if his demand for an independent audit of the May 2013 elections was not accepted. He also called for the government to resume negotiations with his party to settle the row peacefully.
According to sources, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has tasked Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and some other soft-spoken party leaders, including Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, with resuscitating the dialogue with the PTI.
Information Minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid also confirmed the development, saying that the ruling party followed the path of reconciliation throughout PTI’s protest campaign. He added that the government desired to work together with all parties for the welfare of the common man.
Earlier in the day, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah advised Premier Nawaz to re-engage the PTI in talks in order to end the political imbroglio.
Shah urged the prime minister to take other political parties on board for convincing the PTI to come to a negotiated settlement of the issue. “The prime minister has told me that his government is ready for talks [with the PTI],” Shah told the media. He said the prime minister directed Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who was present in the meeting, “to pursue the issue”.
About Imran’s threat to shut down the country, Shah said that “no one can shut down my country. The PTI has the right to protest which they would exercise.”
Ahsan Iqbal told The Express Tribune that the government was in contact with the PTI leadership even before the November 30 rally.
He said that he himself had talked to PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi a day before the rally and they had agreed to resume talks after November 30. “The PTI also wants to come to the negotiating table and we hope things will be settled peacefully,” he said.
Iqbal said the government wanted the PTI to return to parliament to play its political role in the country’s development. “We want them to engage politically and convince them to return to parliament,” Ahsan added. “Both parties have now realised the mistakes they have committed over the time and want to resume talks.”
Dozens of PTI lawmakers had resigned from federal and provincial legislatures – except for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa where the party is in power – on August 22. However, their resignations are pending acceptance as they are insisting on en masse confirmation of resignations before the speakers of respective assemblies.
The government and the PTI have had more than a dozen sessions of talk, which had hit a deadlock over the Terms of Reference (ToRs) of a judicial commission proposed by the PTI to probe into the alleged rigging in the 2013 elections.
Jirga wld like to express its thanks to PM Sharif for appointing I.Dar for the dialogue with PTI.i now appeal to IK to announce his teem to
— Senator Rehman Malik former Interior Minister Pak (@SenRehmanMalik) December 1, 2014
Published in The Express Tribune, December 2nd, 2014.
COMMENTS (5)
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I have just been wondering for some time.................when will this person - named Imran Khan - will grow up..............
I don't think the government would bother much. PTI knew it was on the back foot which is why it declared plan C & D. It alson knew that the crowd would be less than a lakh whichbis why it ordered 50000 chairs, and it was merely posturing.. It realized that it had no support and PTi is now widely perceived as a establishment supported party.
With the latest U Turn about the total blockade i think the game's up.
Don't cave in to this miscreant . Don't let him even disrupt an inch of Pakiatan . Pakistan Zindabad!
Please don't forget PTI stalled talks for weeks.
He is so anarvhist he rejected all proposals initially. He will never get all of that now. He must realise things have changed and he no longer has the upper hand.
its better for the govt to talk to PTI leadership and agree on a point, we need to see progress in decomarcy, and it will progress our country when our leadership agree on a point and then start work for the people of the countary,.