Govt castigates PTI for making 'mockery' of dialogue process, says it won't plead for talks

• "It is not possible we plead with them [PTI] to resume talks.”
• “PTI made our response completely irrelevant,” says Siddiqui.
• Senator says "perhaps PTI was not formed for negotiations".

With the PTI suspending the ongoing negotiation process, the PML-N-led federal government on Friday announced that they would not plead with the former ruling party to resume talks.

Speaking on Geo News programme 'Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath', Senator Irfan Siddiqui, spokesperson for the government's negotiation committee said: “Now, it is not possible that we plead with them [PTI] to return and resume talks.”

His remarks came hours after PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan announced that his party would not attend the fourth round of talks scheduled for January 28.

A day earlier, the Imran Khan-founded party “called off” the negotiation process due to “non-cooperation” of the government and delay over the formation of a judicial commission to probe the May 9, 2023 violent protests and crackdown on party protesters in Islamabad on November 26 last year.           

The PTI and the ruling coalition had been engaged in the talks aimed at defusing political tensions in the country for nearly a month. Both sides held three rounds of talks so far.    

The dialogue ended in deadlock as the Khan-founded party was of the view that they would attend the fourth round of talks only if the government formed the judicial commission while the ruling alliance was saying that they would give their written response to the PTI’s demand in the next round of negotiation.

During the talk show today, Siddiqui said: “PTI called off dialogue without waiting for our response.”

Referring to the third round of talks, he said that the PTI negotiators did not apprise them of their condition that they would stop dialogue process if the judicial commission was not formed. 

Earlier this week, the incarcerated PTI founder — who has been behind bars since August last year in multiple cases ranging from corruption to terrorism — had directed his party to withdraw from talks if the judicial commission was not formed with seven days.

“PTI made our response completely irrelevant,” Siddiqui said today, adding that they were looking at everything in line with the Constitution, rules and regulations.

Lambasting the PTI, he said the former ruling party had made a mockery of the negation process. He further said that National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, who is playing the role of mediator, contacted the former ruling party and sought their opinion.

“Perhaps this party [PTI] was not formed for negotiations. They have May 9 and a final call,” he said referring to the violent protests.

The senator also raised questions over the PTI’s sincerity in the negotiation process.