The Pakistani government has officially put an end to its negotiation process with the Pakistani party Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) after PTI withdrew talks and rejected an offer renewed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, reported Express News .
Senator Irfan Siddiqui, spokesperson for the government’s negotiation committee and head of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), confirmed development in an exclusive interview with the Saudi newspaper, News in Ourdou.
He said that the negotiation process with PTI ended, declaring that PTI had initially approached talks with a large emergency but quickly withdrew. He noted that the only request for PTI talks was the immediate release of party leaders, including Imran Khan, and that the only way was for PTI to ask the PM to ask the president to forgive their sentence.
Siddiqui said the negotiations were not blocked or broken down but were simply concluded. He stressed that, despite PM’s offer, PTI’s answers had clearly indicated that the talks had reached a dead end. He stressed that the PTI deadline had passed and that they had dissolved their committee, marking the end of the process.
He also noted that although PTI had described several requests which could have built confidence, including the formation of a judicial commission, the government had been opened to the resolution of several of these questions.
However, legal advice had indicated that a judicial commission could not be trained when the case was still in court. Despite this, the government had been willing to consider a compromise.
On the issue of confidence strengthening measures, Siddiqui said that the government had prepared working documents on various proposals, which had not been finalized but could have included numerous points of agreement. He stressed that if PTI had remained attached to the negotiations, these proposals would have been brought to the table.
He criticized the approach of PTI, claiming that the principles of DNA and basic party were not aligned with constructive negotiations, but rather on street demonstrations and violent tactics. He pointed out that PTI’s actions reflected a story to move away from talks, as shown in their brutal release of negotiations a few days before the deadline.
The senator also revealed that PTI had specifically demanded the release of several of its leaders, including Imran Khan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and others, and had urged the government to facilitate their release.
However, these requests were not officially written but were transmitted verbally, PTI also calling for the release of other prisoners. According to Siddiqui, these requests were the main objective, while other questions, such as the training of a judicial commission, were secondary.
Regarding the changes in Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act, Siddiqui expressed his personal conviction that wider consultations were necessary. He recognized that the law should make the difference between legitimate journalism and the spread of false news.
He said that journalists adhering to professional standards would not be affected by law, but those who have engaged in the spread of harmful content would be.
The senator concluded by saying that he had advised the PM to listen to the concerns of journalists and to work to modify the law to tackle their grievances. He expressed his commitment to work on this issue beyond his official functions.