NA Speaker Contacts Former Ruling Party to Seek Opinion on Dialogue Process: Senator Siddiqui
Members of the government and PTI’s negotiation committees meet under NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq’s chairmanship on December 23, 2024, at the Parliament House in Islamabad. — PID
“It’s impossible for us to plead with them [PTI] to return for talks.”
“PTI made our response completely irrelevant,” says Siddiqui.
Senator remarks, “Perhaps PTI was not formed for negotiations.”
After PTI halted the ongoing dialogue process, the PML-N-led federal government on Friday declared they would not appeal to the former ruling party to resume talks.
Speaking on Geo News program ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath,’ Senator Irfan Siddiqui, spokesperson for the government’s negotiation committee, said: “Now, it is impossible for us to plead with them [PTI] to return and restart talks.”
His comments came hours after PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan announced that his party would not attend the fourth round of talks scheduled for January 28.
A day earlier, the Imran Khan-founded party had “called off” the negotiations due to the government’s “non-cooperation” and delay in forming a judicial commission to investigate the violent protests of May 9, 2023, and the crackdown on protesters in Islamabad on November 26 last year.
For nearly a month, PTI and the ruling coalition were engaged in talks aimed at easing political tensions in the country. So far, three rounds of talks had been held.
The talks ended in deadlock as PTI insisted they would only attend the fourth round if the government formed a judicial commission. Meanwhile, the ruling coalition stated they would provide a written response to PTI’s demand in the next round.
During the talk show, Siddiqui remarked: “PTI called off the dialogue without waiting for our response.”
Referring to the third round of talks, he noted that PTI negotiators never informed them that they would halt the process if the judicial commission wasn’t formed.
Earlier this week, the imprisoned PTI founder — detained since last August on charges ranging from corruption to terrorism — instructed his party to withdraw from the talks if the judicial commission wasn’t formed within seven days.
“PTI made our response completely irrelevant,” Siddiqui added, emphasizing that the government was approaching everything in line with the Constitution, rules, and regulations.
Criticizing PTI, he said the former ruling party ridiculed the negotiation process. He added that NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, serving as a mediator, contacted PTI to seek their stance.
“Perhaps this party [PTI] was not formed for negotiations. They have May 9 and a final call,” he said, referencing the violent protests.
The senator also questioned PTI’s sincerity in the negotiation process.
