The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday made clear it is now ready to negotiate with the incumbent government if the latter provides it any “implementable” or “serious” offer.
Addressing media outside Parliament, PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan said positive dialogue required both parties to enter it without any preconditions. Similarly, Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) chief Hamid Raza said talks between both sides could commence shortly. “If the government had given an implementable offer we would have considered it; we are still ready to discuss any serious offer,” he said, hoping the PTI would soon meet to discuss terms for negotiations with the government.
Earlier, PTI leaders Salman Akram Raja and Asad Qaiser called on National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq at his residence to offer condolences over the death of his sister. While no statement was issued after the meeting, it has sparked rumors that both sides agreed to commence dialogue under the umbrella of Parliament. The reports gained fervor after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif subsequently visited Sadiq’s residence.
On Thursday morning, Raja told media in Peshawar that PTI founder Imran Khan had authorized the party leadership to hold talks with the government.
Dampening speculation, however, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told Geo News on Wednesday there were no formal negotiation between the PTI and the government. “I don’t think that trust deficit can be reduced unless the matter of May 9 and Nov. 26 is settled,” he said, referring to the PTI’s protests and subsequent narrative-building.
“Who will trust PTI for talks,” he questioned, stressing that the opposition party should, as a first step, show remorse for the May 9 riots and last month’s Islamabad protest. He said informal talks were ongoing at various forums, but “formal” talks cannot occur until the government forms a negotiating committee.
This was in contract to Adviser to the P.M. Rana Sanaullah, who maintained that the solution to all political disputes lay in dialogue. Recalling that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had offered talks to the PTI on the day he assumed power, the PMLN leader stressed that dialogue cannot be linked to any demands for legal concessions.
Since assuming power, the incumbent government has offered talks to the PTI multiple times and been rebuffed. Instead, PTI leaders have said, they would only talk to the “real” powerbrokers. The party has similarly dismissed the offers of talks as “inconsequential.”
However, the situation appears to have changed over the past week, with Imran Khan constituting a five-member committee to talk with ‘anyone’—be it government or otherwise. In a posting on X, his official account claimed the talks would pertain to the release of all political prisoners—including himself—and judicial inquiries into the May 9 and Nov. 26 protests. If these demands are not accepted, he has warned, the PTI would launch a civil disobedience movement.