- “It is not possible for us to plead with them (PTI) to resume discussions.”
- “PTI made our response completely irrelevant,” says Siddiqui.
- The senator says “maybe PTI was not trained for negotiations.”
With PTI suspending the ongoing negotiation process, the PML-NN-led federal government on Friday announced that they would not plead with the former ruling party to resume talks.
Speaking on Geo News “AAJ Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath” Program, Government Negotiating Committee Spokesperson Senator Irfan Siddiqui said, “Now it is not possible for us to plead with them (PTI) to come back and resume discussions .”
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 party founded Imran Khan “cancelled” the negotiation process due to “non-cooperation” from the government and delayed the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the violent protests of May 9, 2023 and the crackdown on party protesters in Islamabad on November 26 last year.
The PTI and the ruling coalition have been engaged in talks aimed at defusing political tensions in the country for almost a month. So far, the two sides have held three rounds of talks.
The dialogue ended in a deadlock as the Khan-based 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 said they would give their written response to PTI’s request in the request for PTI’s request in the next round of negotiations.
During the talk show today, Siddiqui said, “PTI canceled the dialogue without waiting for our response.”
Referring to the third round of talks, he said the PTI negotiators were not informing them about their state that they would stop the 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 several cases ranging from corruption to terrorism – had ordered his party to withdraw from the talks if the judicial commission was not not formed with seven days.
“PTI has made our response completely irrelevant,” Siddiqui said, adding that they were looking at everything as per the constitution, rules and regulations.
Chastising the PTI, he said the former ruling party had made a mockery of the negation process. He added that National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, who plays the role of mediator, contacted the former ruling party and asked for their opinion.
“Maybe this party (PTI) was not trained for negotiations. They have May 9 and one last call,” he said referring to the violent protests.
The senator also raised questions about the PTI’s sincerity in the negotiation process.