ISLAMABAD: The first meeting between the government alliance and opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will be held today (Monday).
The negotiation committees will meet in the morning in the chamber of National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.
The deadlock in talks between the government and PTI ended after the Prime Minister formed a committee to engage with the opposition.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed hope that the talks will prioritize “national security and national interest.”
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Senator Irfan Siddiqui, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah, PPP’s Raja Pervez Ashraf, Naveed Qamar, MQM’s Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, IPP’s Aleem Khan, and PML-Q’s Chaudhry Salik will represent the government alliance.
On the other hand, Opposition Leader Omar Ayub, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Salman Akram Raja, and Asad Qaiser will participate on behalf of PTI.
PTI leader Sher Afzal Marwat has suggested postponing the civil disobedience movement, while Omar Ayub, Shaukat Yousafzai, and Sheikh Waqas Akram believe that only the PTI founder can make the final decision on this matter.
In a related development, a major update since the start of the negotiation process is that the reserved verdict in the £190 million reference against the PTI founder and Bushra Bibi has been postponed for at least a month.
Advisor to Law and Justice Barrister Aqeel Malik denied claims that PTI was offered any deal or relaxation under the guise of the negotiations.
He stated that the release of the PTI founder is not included in the agenda for the talks.
Meanwhile, the Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq welcomed the committee formed by the Prime Minister for negotiations with the opposition and invited both committees to meet.
The first meeting of both committees will take place in the Speaker’s Chamber on Monday at 11:30 am.
Ayaz Sadiq said the government and opposition were invited to negotiations in good faith, emphasizing that progress can only be achieved through dialogue.
PPP representative Syed Naveed Qamar commented that allowing assemblies to complete their term is better for democracy.
He also stressed that the government must work alongside the opposition and fulfill agreements made with its allies.
