Pakistan: Sharif govt in a fix as Imran Khan’s PTI walks out of talks after 3 rounds

Pakistan’s ruling regime urged former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to continue to remain in dialogue after the opposition party walked away from the third round of the talks. PTI insisted that they are not willing to sit down with the government until the formation of the judicial commission, Dawn reported.

The announcement by the party came shortly after it was confirmed that the fourth round of the talks between the two sides would be held on January 28. So far there have been three rounds of talks between the PTI and the government. In the second round, Imran Khan’s party submitted written demands to the ruling regime. The government eventually asked for seven days to respond to the letter.

“No commissions, no negotiations,” PTI leader Omar Ayub wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. In a press conference on Thursday, Ayub reiterated that PTI would not participate in the negotiations until a commission is formed by the government to investigate the events that transpired on May 9 and November 26.

Government expresses openness

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s administration struck a conciliatory tone and asked the PTI to remain part of the talks. While speaking on the matter, Senator Irfan Siddiqui, spokesperson for the government’s negotiation committee said that they would present a written response to the opposition party’s “charter of demands” by January 28.

“We (government) have promised the PTI that we will present our response to the dialogue committee within seven working days and thus we will definitely submit our replies on Jan 28,” the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senator told Dawn on Thursday.

The remarks from the ruling side came after PML-N and its allies held a meeting regarding PTI’s demands. When asked about PTI’s refusal to attend the meeting until the judicial commission is formed, the Pakistani lawmaker kept an optimistic stance on the matter.

“They (PTI) will definitely join the next meeting, and they should because the dialogue was started by them, as they first formed their negotiation committee,” said the senator about the dialogue to defuse political tensions.

He assured that talks are being held on PTI’s demands for the formation of the commissions, adding that the government had not taken any decision regarding this as of now. He said that PTI’s decision to skip the next meeting would be considered “illogical” since the government have remained open to negotiate.

“We want they should … not leave the dialogue process incomplete and sit (with the government) without any condition,” he remarked. “We will give a proper answer to the PTI’s demands (and) in the same manner in which the opposition party had submitted its demands,” the senator furthered. He mentioned that the government asked National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, who is head of the negotiation committee, to call the fourth meeting of the committee on Jan 28 or any other date only after getting consent from the PTI, Dawn reported.

The major demands of Imran Khan’s party are the formation of judicial commissions on May 9, 2023, and Nov 26, 2024, violent protests across the country and the release of all PTI prisoners. Meanwhile, another PML-N leader, Khurram Dastagir Khan made it clear that the ruling regime would not make any compromises regarding the May 9 riots.

The dialogue between the government committee and PTI resumed in December last year, following a long standoff. Initially, PTI was not willing to share demands in writing, but after getting a go-ahead from Imran Khan, the party shared its demands in writing.