\u2022 PM briefed on meetings; Irfan Siddiqui promises \u2018serious response\u2019 within seven days
\n\u2022 Gohar says negotiations meaningless sans judicial commissions on May 9, Nov 26 events
\n\u2022 PTI likely to move IHC against Al Qadir Trust case verdict today<\/p>\n
ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday assured the PTI of a response to the opposition\u2019s 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 probe the May 9 and Nov 26 incidents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have shared PTI\u2019s demands with all our allies in the ruling coalition and sought their suggestions on how to fulfil them,\u201d said Senator Irfan Siddiqui, a member of the government\u2019s negotiation team, while talking to Dawn.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will give a serious, sympathetic response to the PTI within seven working days,\u201d he said, adding that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had formed a committee of all ruling allies to finalise the government\u2019s response, with its first meeting scheduled to be held shortly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have also included some legal experts in the committee, including Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar, and asked our allies to obtain legal opinions from their respective legal teams on the PTI demands and present their viewpoints in the committee\u2019s first meeting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce we gather suggestions from our partners, a unanimous reply will be prepared and presented to the prime minister.\u201d<\/p>\n
As agreed by the two sides, he said, the government will respond to the opposition within seven working days (by Jan 27 or 28), after which the reply will be presented before National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq during the next meeting.<\/p>\n
Senator Siddiqui denied media reports suggesting that the government had refu\u00adsed to form a judicial commission, urging the media to avoid spreading baseless news that could undermine the dialogue process.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch news causes worries and uncertainty on the other side and can ham\u00adper the dialogue process,\u201d he cautioned.<\/p>\n
Later, three members of the government\u2019s negotiation team \u2014 Ishaq Dar, Irfan Siddiqui, and Rana Sanaullah \u2014 called on PM Shehbaz to brief him on their meetings with the PTI.<\/p>\n
A source said the prime minister urged them to maintain close liaison with other members of the government\u2019s team and finalise the responses to PTI\u2019s charter of demands.<\/p>\n
PTI\u2019s threat<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s response followed a warning from PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar, who said the party would not participate in the fourth meeting if the government failed to commit within seven days to forming judicial commissions on May 9 and Nov 26 incidents.<\/p>\n
Barrister Gohar, who met PTI founder Imran Khan in jail, told reporters that the ex-PM had categorically directed him that there would be no talks if the government did not form the judicial commissions.<\/p>\n
Talks will be meaningless if the government filed to do so, he said, adding that the government should make the talks result-oriented through sincerity and politeness.<\/p>\n
Separately, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja said that the party would abandon talks with the government by January 28 unless they were allowed unfettered access to their incarcerated party founder.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the DawnNewsTV, Mr Raja said: \u201cIn the last meeting, we asked to meet him alone, without the tools or officers of the state present. But it does not seem to be happening now\u201d.<\/p>\n
When asked if the PTI would negotiate with the establishment, Mr Raja said the party was open to talking with all actors and it will engage with the establishment as well.<\/p>\n
Separately, PTI legal expert Faisal Chaudhry, speaking to Dawn, said the party was committed to the negotiations for the country\u2019s benefit, not for gaining any advantage for the party itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cImran Khan has said that imprisonment does not make any difference to him and it will not affect the negotiations with the government and others. He has stated that he only wants the establishment of a judicial commission to investigate the May 9 and November 26 incidents. He also clarified that the negotiations have nothing to do with his release,\u201d Mr Chaudhry said, sharing the former prime minister\u2019s message.<\/p>\n
In reply to a question, he warned that if the government did not show seriousness regarding the establishment of the judicial commission, PTI would be left with no option but to stop negotiations with the government.<\/p>\n
He also criticised Senator Siddiqui for his statement and accused the \u201cForm 47 government\u201d of showing mistrust towards security agencies. He said the government was also showing mistrust towards the press release issued by the security agencies. \u201cIt seems the government is afraid and puzzled because of the contacts between PTI and other powers.\u201d<\/p>\n
So far, three meetings between the government and PTI have taken place, chaired by NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq. During the last meeting on Jan 16, the PTI presented its charter of demands, including the formation of judicial commissions to investigate the events of May 9, 2023, and Nov 26, 2024, as well as the release of all PTI prisoners.<\/p>\n
Challenge to \u00a3190m case verdict<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, speaking outside Parli\u00adament House, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan said the party would approach the high court against the decision in the \u00a3190 million Al Qadir Trust case.<\/p>\n
He said it should be asked from Hasan Nawaz, son of ex-PM Nawaz Sharif, how he transferred Rs40 billion from Pakistan to the UK.<\/p>\n
Barrister Gohar claimed that the \u00a3190m case was not related to corruption but was a case concerning a trust, asserting that Imran Khan was not involved in corruption.<\/p>\n
In response to a question about the judicial commission, he said that the commission could be established at any time and over any issue. He confirmed that Imran Khan had set a seven-day deadline for the commission\u2019s formation.<\/p>\n
PTI leaders Asad Qaiser announced that the party would approach the Islam\u00adabad High Court on Tuesday (today) to challenge the Al Qadir Trust case. He said Imran Khan remained the most popular leader and hinted that the PTI would soon form an alliance with opposition parties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2022 PM briefed on meetings; Irfan Siddiqui promises \u2018serious response\u2019 within seven days \u2022 Gohar says negotiations meaningless sans judicial commissions on May 9, Nov 26 events \u2022 PTI likely to move IHC against Al Qadir Trust case verdict today ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday assured the PTI of a response to the opposition\u2019s charter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4919,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4918"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4920,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4918\/revisions\/4920"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}