Expressing regret over the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) “unfortunate decision” to call off the negotiation process with the government, PML-N Senator Irfan Siddiqui said that the former ruling party should “reconsider it” for the sake of political stability in the country.
“When they [PTI] had knocked on our door and handed over a questionnaire, they should have listened to our answers,” PML-N Senator Irfan Siddiqui — spokesperson for the government’s negotiation committee — said while speaking to journalists outside the Parliament House on Thursday.
The remarks came shortly after incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan “called off” negotiations with the government due to its failure to establish a judicial commission within the seven-day period.
Speaking to the media outside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that Khan expressed his frustration over the delay, saying that the government’s failure to act for formation of judicial commission leaves no reason to continue the talks.
“The founder of PTI has categorically announced that no further rounds of negotiations will take place,” Gohar said. “The government made announcements but has yet to follow through, which is why Imran Khan decided to end the negotiations.”
Negotiations between the PML-N-led government and PTI began in late December in an effort to ease political tensions. However, weeks of talks — with three sessions taking place so far — have made little progress on key matters.
The Khan-founded party, in its written charter of demands presented to the government during the third session on January 16, had demanded the formation of two judicial commissions — mutually nominated by the PTI and the government within seven days — and the release of “political prisoners”.
The former ruling party’s demands of two judicial commissions pertained to an inquiry into the May 9, 2023 riots as well the events from November 24 to November 27, 2024, in relation to its protest in Islamabad.
Briefing the media today, Siddiqui said that the former ruling party took 42 days to table its “charter of demands” and now they “want us to constitute a judicial commission in seven days.”
“We reckon the seven working days will be completed on January 28,” he said, wondering why PTI threatened to pull out of talks.
“It is hard to ascertain as to what went wrong in the last seven days that led the party to give up on talks?”
“They [PTI] were quick in starting it and are now making a hasty retreat. They are quitting with the same impatience they started it. We are asking them to stay put and let the weather improve,” he added.
The PML-N Senator further said that the government committee took the PTI’s demands seriously and formed a sub-committee, which includes seven allied parties, to chalk out a written response.
“We had almost formed an opinion on the PTI’s demands,” he said, asking the Imran-founded party to reconsider its decision if they can form an opinion “apart from their founder’s opinion”.
The spokesperson also said that the government had exhibited restraint at many points during the talks and ignored many actions by the PTI, including posts by Imran on his official X handle.
Furthermore, he said, the government did not raise objections to Imran’s ongoing civil disobedience call since it wanted to make progress in talks in the “spirit of democracy and give and take”.
He called on the PTI founder to reconsider its course of action or inform the government in writing if the negotiations are over.
