ISLAMABAD: The PDM-led government and the PTI will hold their “final” round of negotiations today (Tuesday). In negotiations there will be leaders from both sides casting aspersions.
Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani announced that the coalition government and main opposition party will negotiate at 9pm in Senate Secretariat instead of 11am.
Due to both sides’ negotiation committees’ busy schedules, the Senate chairman made the change. “The new negotiation timings expected to help facilitate discussions between the government and PTI”.
PTI Chairman Imran Khan said hours before the negotiations that he would support simultaneous elections. Only if the PDM dissolves all assemblies—Sindh, Balochistan, and national—before May 14, the Supreme Court’s date for Punjab’s polls.
PTI Secretary General Asad Umar told Karachi journalists that the PDM-led government’s negotiations intentions are bad.
The Supreme Court has urged political parties to negotiate to resolve the impasse over the timing of general elections.
The top court had ordered political parties to choose an election date by April 26, but no progress made. The apex court stated on April 25 that it cannot force parties to negotiate.
PML-N Leaders don’t wanna talk to IK
Khawaja Asif called the deposed prime minister a “confused person” who reverses most of his decisions.
“I believe, we should not be negotiating with a person like this,” he said, urging the Supreme Court to end its “infighting” instead of negotiating with political parties.
Federal Minister Mian Javed Latif also opposed the talks, saying that terrorist wings don’t negotiate.
“No one talks to petrol bombers or world power tools. “Those who talk about Mir Jaffer, Mir Sadiq are not negotiating,” Latif said.
The PTI had warned that if the arrests of its leaders and workers continued, the talks could derail, and when police raided PTI President Parvez Elahi’s home Friday night, the party strongly criticised the raid but did not call off the talks.
The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), led by the PDM chief, has also decided to stay out of the negotiations, claiming they would fail.
