The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Tuesday confirmed the government has approached it for talks ahead of a planned nationwide strike tomorrow (Thursday), though noted it is only willing to negotiate if presented with a “complete package” of relief.
According to party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed Tarabi, party Deputy Emir Liaquat Baloch has been offered talks by Adviser to the Prime Minister Rana Sanaullah and Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal. Additionally, he said, PMLN leaders Khawaja Saad Rafique and Khawaja Salman Rafique had also contacted the party.
Tarabi told media the party had conveyed it wanted assurances from the government of what relief it intended to provide to the public on the petroleum levy, electricity prices and inflation. “We will not merely listen to a briefing. The government’s negotiating team should come with a complete package and explain what relief it intends to provide to the people,” he said.
The spokesperson warned that the JI—which has been staging sit-ins in provincial capitals for nearly three weeks—would continue its demonstrations if the government didn’t provide meaningful relief to the people.
Confirming the government’s overtures, Sanaullah said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had formed a three-member negotiating committee comprising himself, Ahsan Iqbal and state minister Bilal Azhar Kayani. He said he had contacted Baloch and offered to hold talks at the protest site or at any other mutually agreed venue, adding the government wanted to discuss whether the demands sought by the JI could be met.
Last week, JI chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman announced the party would stage a nationwide strike on Sept. 3, warning the protests could expand to markets and roads and even a long march on Islamabad if the government fails to provide relief to the public.