ISLAMABAD: The top leadership of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday threw their weight behind the dialogue with the coalition government for the sake of the country, saying that Pakistan is their utmost priority.
The development came as the Imran Khan founded party is set to present it “charter of demands” in the upcoming session which is likely to be held in the next week. The two sides have met twice — on December 23 and January 2 — to defuse prevailing political tensions in the country.
Talking to journalists in Islamabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur said: “Pakistan is [our top] priority and [we] will hold talks for [the sake of] it.”
Referring to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s remarks during today’s meeting of the Central Apex Committee on the National Action Plan (NAP), the firebrand chief minister said that the premier should not deny “facts” that no shots were fired during the crackdown on the PTI protesters in Islamabad in November last year.
“Making such comments is inappropriate for PM Shehbaz,” he added.
Following the police crackdown against PTI’s November 26 protest in the federal capital, the former ruling party claims that 13 of their supporters were killed, 58 sustained injuries and 45 are still missing.
Five law enforcers — four personnel of Rangers and policeman, were also martyred during the clashes with the protesters.
Responding to a question, the CM said that the nation together with the security institutions would eradicate the menace of terrorism from the country.
Meanwhile, incarcerated PTI senior leader and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi stressed the need for negotiations between the treasury and the opposition benches.
“Dialogue is not the need of PTI but the Pakistan.”
Talking to the media after his appearance in an anti-terrorism court in Lahore, Qureshi warned that the failure of the ongoing negotiation process could endanger democracy in the country.
“Pakistan stands at a critical juncture,” he said and prayed for a breakthrough in the ongoing dialogue process.
“Let the negation take place. The incumbent government [in Centre] will tumble if the outcome of talks is not positive,” warned the PTI leader.
PTI entered the dialogues with sincerity, the former foreign minister said and urged the coalition government to take the matters forward with sincerity.
Following the second round of talks between the PTI and the coalition government, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on Wednesday said that the negations were held in “more conducive environment”, adding that the former ruling party would present its “charter of demands” in next session after meeting its jailed founder Khan.
“In the last meeting we decided that PTI would present its charter of demands, but the opposition demanded another meeting with [PTI founder] Imran Khan to chalk out the list of demands and the next meeting will be held next week, hopefully,” said Sadiq.
Reading out the joint declaration of the meeting, Senator Irfan Siddiqui said that PTI’s Ayub and others presented their point of view in detail.
“They [PTI] demanded the release of incarcerated Imran Khan and their workers and formation of judicial commission on the events of May 9, 2023 and Nov 26,” he said.
Furthermore, he said, that the opposition wanted to meet the incarcerated PTI founder for consultation to chalk out the “charter of demands”. “They [PTI] said Imran had allowed to start this negotiation process… in a bid to continue the process in a positive manner, Imran’s guidance is necessary,” he added.
Siddiqui noted that the opposition agreed to table the charter of demand in written form after consulting the party founder. During the meeting, he said, the government has no objection to the PTI committee meeting the jailed founder.
“It was agreed that the date for the third round of talks will be announced after the PTI committee meets Imran,” he concluded.
