PTI rejects PM Shehbaz's offer to resume dialogue as govt slams 'non-democratic' move

• "Our demands were clear," says PTI’s Omar Ayub.
• Opposition party "missed this train", says Senator Siddiqui.
• PML-N senator says solution to every problem lies in negotiations.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has rejected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s offer to resume stalled talks with the government in a bid to lower the political temperature in the country.

Earlier today, PM Shehbaz said the government was ready to form a parliamentary committee to advance talks with PTI, after the Imran Khan-founded party quit negotiations over the non-formation of judicial commissions to probe the May 9, 2023 and November 26 events.

PM Shehbaz has said he wants to bring down the political tensions and wholeheartedly move forward with the negotiations as the country cannot sustain more damage.

The PTI abruptly quit the talks after holding three meetings with the ruling parties’ negotiation committee, maintaining that the government failed to constitute judicial commissions within the seven-day deadline in line with its “charter of demands”.

Speaking on Geo News programme Capital Talk, PTI top leader and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub said: “We reject Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s offer [to resume dialogue]”.

Reiterating the party’s demands, Ayub said the PTI formed a negotiation committee with sincerity to hold dialogue with the government. “Our demands were clear,” he said calling for the release of all PTI’s “political prisoners”.

In a statement, Senator Irfan Siddiqui, the spokesperson for the government’s negotiation committee, said the PTI exhibited a non-democratic and non-political mentality by unilaterally pulling out of the talks.

“PTI lost a good opportunity towards [fulfillment] of their demands,” he added.

Although, the opposition party “missed this train”, they should benefit from the PM’s latest offer, Siddiqui said.

Slamming the PTI for its agitational politics, the PML-N senator said that neither the opposition party achieved its objective via sit-ins and long marches in the past nor will it this time.

Stressing the need for dialogue to defuse political tensions in the country, Siddiqui said that the solution to every problem was in serious and meaningful negotiations. 

“The sooner PTI understands this, the better it will be for them,” he added.

PTI-govt talks

The much-hyped negotiations between the government and the Imran Khan's PTI hit a snag last week after opposition walked out of negotiations following receiving instructions from the jailed party founder. 

The opposition also skipped the fourth round of meeting held at Parliament House in Islamabad on Tuesday, saying that the decision to quit talks could only reviewed following the formation of judicial commissions.

The party had presented its demands to the government's negotiation committee in writing, seeking probes into May 9, 2023, and November 26, 2024 events, as well as the release of "political prisoners", in a third round of parleys held on January 16.

PTI's 'charter of demands', available with Geo News, also mentioned that if the government failed to constitute two separate commissions on the violent events, the party will not continue the negotiations.

PM Shehbaz had formed a committee comprising members from all ruling parties to respond to demands submitted by the major opposition party.