• PTI boycotts talks over delay in formation of judicial commissions on May 9, Nov 26 events
• Barrister Gohar says negotiations have to be called off due to ‘non-cooperation from govt’
• Govt warns it won’t consider party’s demands if it refuses to join dialogue process
ISLAMABAD: Despite the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) refusal to attend the fourth round of talks with the government, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has called the next meeting of the dialogue committee on Jan 28.
At the same time, the government has toughened its stance, warning that it would no longer consider PTI’s demands regarding the formation of judicial commissions on May 9, 2023, and Nov 26, 2024, incidents or the release of PTI leaders and workers, if the opposition party does not join the talks.
According to a press release issued by the National Assembly Secretariat, the meeting is scheduled to be held at 11:45am in Committee Room 5 at Parliament House, with Speaker Ayaz Sadiq presiding over the session.
Senator Irfan Siddiqui, a member of the government’s negotiation team, told reporters that the government was not bound to respond to PTI’s demands if the opposition party boycotted the talks.
“We will not call the PTI again for the meeting if the party does not want to join the dialogue process,” he added.
He said the government was serious about addressing PTI’s demands, but the party suddenly decided to leave the negotiation process. “We do not have much time to wait for the PTI,” he said.
Earlier, PTI decided to boycott the fourth round of talks, a day after it announced that party founder Imran Khan issued directions to call off negotiations due to a delay over the formation of judicial commissions.
The PTI and the government had been engaged in talks to bring down political temperatures. After two rounds of meetings, the third round was held seven days ago (Jan 16) in which the PTI formally presented its demands in writing.
Despite weeks of negotiations, the dialogue process has hardly moved forward on major issues — the formation of judicial commissions and the release of PTI prisoners.
On Monday, the government assured the PTI of a response to the opposition’s ‘charter of demands’ within seven working days after the party warned it would boycott the next round of talks if judicial commissions were not formed to investigate the May 9 and Nov 26 incidents.
On Friday, speaking at a press conference outside the Parliament House, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, flanked by PTI leaders Omar Ayub Khan, Shibli Faraz and Ali Mohammad Khan, said that Imran Khan had approved negotiations despite the long charge sheet against him and the party.
“The (stipulated) days have passed, but the government has not announced the formation of judicial commissions even after (the deadline passed) yesterday,” he said, adding that the negotiations ended because the government was “not serious at any stage”.
“We presented them with simple demands during the negotiations. What was wrong with announcing the formation of a judicial commission?” he questioned.
