PTI’s Qureshi does not see negotiations bearing fruit down the line while govt negotiators say govt taking time to avoid taking any measure against constitution
Another round of talks between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and government Tuesday ended inconclusively.
“I don’t see these negotiations bearing fruit down the line,” PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters at the end of Tuesday’s sitting with the government negotiators team led by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. He said in his opinion, the talks were going nowhere.
“I am afraid we are forced to take whatever the government is offering as a ‘No’ as they are trying to avoid a logical conclusion of the negotiations,” he said.
Qureshi added that his side entered Tuesday’s session thinking it would be the last one.
“Today we were expecting to ink an agreement with the government,” he said, adding, “Let’s see what they (government) have to say tomorrow”.
To a question, he said the PTI tried its best to resolve the matters in the broader interest of the country, but to no avail.
“The government is only stonewalling the matters to buy time, maybe because they are afraid of launching an investigation into the election rigging,” the PTI leader said.
Qureshi said that on December 27 it was decided that Dar, after taking his leadership into confidence, would certainly draw an approval with regards to agreed points, but he did not.
On the other hand, Dar, who was flanked by Federal Minister for Planning, Ahsan Iqbal, said that the draft ordinance has been finalised except for three points.
“We are going back with PTI’s viewpoint in mind. Certain issues are yet subject to deliberation, so nothing is final,” Dar said. He said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz led government had no objection to the formation of a judicial commission to dig into the alleged vote fraud.
Ahan Iqbal told the journalists the government was taking its time because it just wanted to avoid taking any measure that ran counter to the constitution of Pakistan.
