Ruling coalition chides PTI for wishing to hold talks with establishment

• SIC, PTI inviting army to step into politics, says Faisal Kundi.
• Sanaullah says PTI’s aims to seize power via establisment.
• Rafique says political parties will have to talk sooner or later. 

ISLAMABAD: Leaders of the coalition government lambasted the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) for announcing to hold talks with the military establishment only, terming the decision made by the Imran Khan-led party double standard, The News reported Sunday. 

The statement comes after PTI senior leader Shehryar Afridi on Friday claimed that his party will hold talks with the military establishment instead of the government. 

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart Khawaja Saad Rafique said the PTI should not cry for civil supremacy when it wished to hold negotiations with the military leadership.

Rafique said that the PTI leader's comments on negotiations had spilled the beans, adding that this was "Imran Khan's traditional behaviour pattern is that his one hand is on their neck and the other on their feet".

"He cries outside that he is the flag bearer of freedom and begs for negotiations behind the door," said the PML-N leader, adding that the politicians would have to communicate with each other anytime later, if not sooner. 

Taking a dig at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur for expressing his desire to occupy Islamabad, Rafique demanded him to take back his statement.

Rafique said though there was no impulse for a governor rule in the KP, but it was impossible that someone occupied Islamabad and remained in the government. 

The politico said that the threats and arson had no place in democratic politics and that the PTI had talked about threats and attacks to such an extent that it ended up in carrying out May 9 violent incidents.

PTI aims to seize power via establishment: Sanaullah 

On the other hand, during an appearance on the Geo News show "Naya Pakistan", PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah said that the PTI’s mindset was not political since it aimed to seize power via the establishment. 

The difficulties would be resolved, according to Sanaullah, if political parties united and decided that each institution should be restricted to its constitutional mandate. He also asked why anybody would oppose if political stability returned to the nation.

"They [PTI] say they will negotiate with them [the establishment], but when it comes to blaming they mud sling on us [the government] for everything," said Sanaullah. 

PTI inviting military to interfere in politics: Kundi

Talking to media persons, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Information Secretary Faisal Karim Kundi alleged that the PTI was "inviting the military to interfere in politics". 

He said that the political party was of the view that it would not hold talks with politicians and would only talk to the army chief and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) director general.

“The Sunni Ittehad Council and the PTI are inviting the army to step into politics. The PPP has always been against the military’s involvement in politics," said the politician. 

The PTI’s problem was that while it stuck to the retired ones, it fell at the feet of the serving ones, he maintained.

The PPP stalwart said the PTI leadership was still looking for a shoulder to lean on but the facility was no more available for them. He said they should realise that they had to hold talks with the political opponents instead of expecting a missed call from somewhere else.

Kundi said the PTI had five factions, so they should first identify which one was the official franchise. “First of all, the PTI founder and Shahryar Afridi should seek apology for the violent May 9 incidents as talks with those involved in terrorism would not take place,” he said.

Commenting on the Gandapur's statement regarding the occupation of Islamabad, Kundi stated that people who discussed taking over the federal capital would arrive of their own free choice and go in accordance with the will of the federation.

“The chief minister is concentrating on visiting Islamabad, and it appears that the PTI may be orchestrating another May 9 rally, while there is a flood in KP, and the law and order situation is really terrible,” he said.

The chief minister of KP made an extremely reckless remark about invading Islamabad, he said, adding that because of this mentality, he lost the by-elections miserably.

The politico questioned where the KP government's yearly allocation of Rs50–60 billion for the fight against terrorism had gone. "The KP government should be grilled for the NFC Award money that it received for ten years," he said, stressing that the provincial government's main focus was on roadside protests and dancing.

He urged that the KP government should lift the restriction on student unions. The provincial cabinet's process for passing the budget was unconstitutional, Kundi said, as the KP government was still reluctant to call an assembly session.

In response to a query, Kundi stated that for him, the KP government spokesman was not someone to be taken seriously.

Shibli Faraz questions legitimacy of govt

In the meanwhile, PTI leader Shibli Faraz addressed the journalists, highlighting the nation's present political unrest and emphasising the significance of establishing the framework of negotiations. 

He said that the stakeholders must first establish how and in what setting the discussions would take place before any step could be taken for the talks.

Faraz stated that both the PTI and the establishment were realities in our society.

Taking note of the government’s dependence on Form 47, he questioned the legitimacy of the current government, which was constituted following the general elections on February 8.

PTI to tell establishment about its constitutional role

Later, talking to Geo News programme "Naya Pakistan", PTI Information Secretary Raoof Hasan said they were ready for talks with the establishment yesterday, today and will be ready in the future but only to tell them about their constitutional role.

He explained that there was a role defined in the Constitution for all the institutions, including the establishment. “Roots of democracy cannot be strengthened if the establishment keeps interfering in political matters,” he contended.

He pointed out that a committee was formed one and a half years back to negotiate with the establishment. “We were ready for talks with the establishment yesterday, today and will be ready in the future, but there has been no contact from them so far,” he noted.

Raoof clarified that they wanted to engage with all political parties, barring the PML-N, PPP and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), which had stolen their mandate, or their mandate was given to them in a begging bowl.

Asked why the PTI was not ready to talk to the government, he emphasised that the rulers were just "puppets", whose strings were being pulled from somewhere while they themselves enjoyed no power.

The PTI spokesman also said that they wished to engage with the establishment to explain to them their constitutional role, and not for a deal, as PTI founding chairman Imran Khan had said he was ready to remain in jail for nine years but would not strike any deal.

“We can talk to all other parties, our six-party alliance is a proof that we are ready to talk to political parties. And, if the ruling parties are serious in talks, then first return our mandate, we will not ask for anything for ourselves from the establishment,” he said.