Talks with PTI: PM confers with senior party leaders today

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed ruling party will discuss possibility of resuming talks with PTI on Wednesday

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will confer with senior leaders of the ruling PML-N on Wednesday (today) on the possibility of resuming negotiations with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), The Express Tribune has learnt. He will also consult leaders of other political parties represented in the parliament.

Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar, while speaking at a ceremony in Islamabad, confirmed that the ruling party will discuss the possibility of resuming talks with the PTI on Wednesday. He said PTI chairman Imran Khan had given a dangerous statement two days ago following which the ruling party decided to put the issue on hold, at least for the time being.

According to him, Imran said that if the proposed judicial commission found no evidence of rigging in the 2013 elections, then he would not accept its findings. “If Imran wants to see JC findings of his own choosing, then there is no use of having negotiations with the PTI,” Dar said.

According to sources, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who arrived in Islamabad along with the prime minister on Tuesday from Lahore, discussed the possibility of resuming talks with senior party leadership and other stakeholders and they all advised him to resume talks without wasting time.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2014.