Not possible for govt to plead with PTI for talks, says Senator Siddiqui

The PML-N-led coalition government on Friday accused the PTI of stalling the negotiation process and said it would not ask the former ruling party to hold talks with it. Senator Irfan Siddiqui, spokesperson of the government’s negotiating committee on Geo News’ program ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’, said, “Now it is not possible for us to beg them [PTI] to come back and resume talks.” His remarks came hours after PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan announced that his party would not participate in the fourth round of talks scheduled for January 28. A day earlier, the Imran Khan-founded party “called off” the negotiation process due to the government’s “non-cooperation” and the delay in setting up a judicial commission to investigate the 9th violent protests in Islamabad on November 26 last year. The PTI and the ruling coalition have been holding talks for almost a month aimed at easing political tensions in the country. The two sides have held three rounds of negotiations so far. The dialogue ended in deadlock as the Khan-founded party was of the view that it would participate in the fourth round of talks only if the government formed a judicial commission, while the ruling alliance said it would respond in writing to PTI’s request next. round of negotiations. During a talk show today, Siddiqui said, “PTI called off the dialogue without waiting for our response.” On the third round of negotiations, he said PTI negotiators did not inform them of their condition that they would stop the dialogue process if the judicial commission was not established. Earlier this week, the jailed PTI founder – who has been behind bars since August last year in multiple cases ranging from corruption to terrorism – ordered his party to withdraw from the talks unless a judicial commission was formed within seven days. “PTI has made our reply completely irrelevant,” Siddiqui said today, adding that they judge everything according to the constitution, rules and regulations. He criticized the PTI and said that the former ruling party was making a mockery of the process of negation. He further said that National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, who plays the role of mediator, contacted the former ruling party and sought its opinion. “Maybe this party [PTI] was not made for negotiation. They have May 9 and a final call,” he said, referring to the violent protests. The senator also raised questions about PTI’s sincerity in the negotiation process.