Achakzai raises questions over PTI's negotiations with 'mandate-less' govt

• No point in negotiating with govt lacking mandate: Achakzai.
• Claims Shehbaz Sharif ready to become PM under Musharraf.
• Kundi says he doesn't see Imran Khan's PTI getting NRO.

As the crucial talks between the government and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf enter the third round, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PKMAP) chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai, whose party is an ally of the PTI, has raised questions over the former ruling party's negotiations with a government, which according to him lacks "legitimate mandate".

"What is the point of negotiating with a government that does not have a legitimate mandate?" Achakzai said while speaking to journalists along with Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) Chairman Allama Raja Nasir Abbas in Islamabad on Friday.

The statement came a day after the embattled former ruling party and the government held their second round of dialogue, which the National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq said was held in a cordial environment.

During the meeting, the PTI negotiation team sought frequent meetings with party founder Imran Khan to finalise the "charter of demands". While the PTI has been quite vocal about its key demands — the release of political prisoners and a judicial probe into the events of May 9, 2023 and November 26 crackdown — it could not share these demands with the government committee in writing.

The Imran Khan-founded party has already given an ultimatum that talks should conclude by the end of the ongoing month.

The talks were being held in the wake of the former ruling party's announcement of a civil disobedience movement if their demands go unmet. Jailed PTI founder Imran Khan had last month called on his supporters to launch the anti-government movement by withholding remittances in the first phase.

Speaking to the media today, the PKMAP chief said that they would pray for the success of the negotiations, "but in such cases, prayers are not accepted".

Calling Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif "a friend", he claimed that the incumbent premier was ready to become PM under then president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf. He added that Nawaz Sharif courageously stopped Shahbaz, but now the former has also "backed down".

Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi — whose party, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), is an ally of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Centre — expressed scepticism on the ongoing government-PTI talks, saying that nothing could be seen to come out of the negotiations taking place between the two.

Speaking to journalists in Peshawar, Kundi noted that negotiations were the only way out of the long-standing issues, adding that he did not see the PTI getting the NRO-like deal.