- Imran, Qadri set PM’s resignation precondition for dialogue process as govt, opposition announce separate committees for talks
- Ahsan Iqbal says govt negotiators scheduled to meet Qadri today at 5am
ISLAMABAD
MIAN ABRAR
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government’s efforts to hold talks with the angry long marchers suffered a major setback Monday as Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) leader Dr Tahirul Qadri and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan flatly refused to enter into a dialogue, reiterating their demand for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s resignation as a precondition for dialogue process.
The government and the opposition have formed separate committees to hold talks with PTI and PAT leaderships.
The prime minister Monday formed a five-member committee, comprising SAFRON Minister Abdul Qadir Baloch, Housing Minister Akram Durrani, Planning & Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Railways Minister Khwaja Saad Rafique and Special Assistant to PM Irfan Siddiqui, to hold dialogue with Khan and Qadri. The committee will also contact other parties in a bid to defuse the situation.
According to Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, the recently-formed government committee was scheduled meet Qadri early Tuesday at 5am.
Opposition leader Syed Khurshid Shah said that the opposition parties had formed its two separate committees to facilitate the dialogue process. A committee would comprise Khurshid Shah, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, Ghazi Gulab Jamal and a nominee of Jamaat-e-Islami, while Aftab Sherpao, Hasil Bazenjo and Ijazul Haq would be members of the second committee.
THEY JUST WON’T TALK:
A source privy to the dialogue process told Pakistan Today that the government had contacted Qadri through Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar and Khan through different intermediaries, seeking meetings for a dialogue.
“Qadri refused to talk with the Punjab governor thrice. He looks inflexible and it seems hard for the government to meet his impossible demands. However, Khan’s demands could be negotiated, so the government is using backchannels through some PTI leaders to convince PTI chief to withdraw demand for PM’s resignation and threat to enter Red Zone,” the source said, adding that the government wanted to talk over all issues except PM’s resignation.
“We defined our redlines and now want to know what are theirs (redlines),” the source added.
