• Talks committee to be dissolved, response to demands won’t be shared, Siddiqui warns
• Party adamant it won’t attend huddle, vows to support journalists on Peca tweaks
• PM wants talks to continue, says avoiding dialogue is ‘undemocratic’

ISLAMABAD: After the PTI appeared to be in no mood to rejoin negotiations being held to defuse political tensions, the government committee’s spokesperson Senator Irfan Siddiqui on Monday said their committee would be dissolved if PTI did not attend the fourth round of talks scheduled for today (Tuesday).

According to the senator, the response to the PTI’s charter of demands would not be made public in case the opposition party skipped the meeting. The government committee, however, will attend the in-camera session in either case. The meeting summoned by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq will be held in the Parliament House at 11:45am.

The PML-N senator also called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday to apprise him about the dialogue with the PTI. “I informed the PM that we are ready for talks but the PTI is reluctant to sit again in today’s meeting,” the senator said.

The PML-N leader urged the PTI to attend the meeting so that progress could be made on its demands for the formation of judicial commissions and the release of political prisoners. “They (PTI) should attend the meeting because, in case of any reservations on the government’s reply, we could discuss moving forward towards fulfilment of their (PTI) demands,” he added.

He recalled that an agreement had been reached between the PTI and the government in which the government was given seven working days to share its response to the PTI demands with the NA speaker. “We have prepared our replies but will not make them public in case the PTI does not attend the meeting,” he added.

In a press release issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) after a meeting between the premier and the committee spokesperson, Prime Minister Shehbaz desired that the talks between the government and the PTI should continue.

“These contacts help in preparing a joint strategy to resolve issues facing the country and nation,” he added. He said avoiding negotiations was an undemocratic attitude that created tensions and damaged the atmosphere of national solidarity. The prime minister said Pakistan did not need agitation, tussles, and confrontation but harmony and understanding so that a joint strategy could be adopted for building the economy and eradicating terrorism.

PTI not to attend

On the other hand, the PTI is not going to attend the meeting being held today, according to Omar Ayub, the opposition leader in the National Assembly.

The party had earlier made the participation in the meeting conditional to the formation of judicial commissions to probe the May 9 and November 26 incidents.

However, it later showed a little flexibility in its stance and announced that the committee could attend the meeting if the government arranged a meeting of its members with Imran Khan before the Jan 28. However, the meeting had not materialised by the time this report went to print.

The PTI abandoned the negotiations a couple of days ago after the government did not respond to its demand for the formation of judicial commissions to probe the May 9, 2023 and Nov 26, 2024 protests the party had held for the release of its jailed founder Imran Khan.

Meanwhile, the PTI has decided to support the journalist community over controversial amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act recently rushed through the National Assembly.

A delegation of the anchorpersons met PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser to discuss these amendments. Mr Gohar assured that the PTI would stand by the media and would not support the controversial amendments.

“There are a number of flaws in the amendments and they are also against the basic human rights,” he claimed.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2025