ISLAMABAD: Expressing disappointment over Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s decision to quit the ongoing talks, the government on Thursday called upon the embattled opposition party to reassess its decision as the seven working day deadline ends on January 28.
Speaking at a presser, Senator Irfan Siddiqui, the spokesman for the government’s negotiation committee, said: “When the PTI approached us and presented a charter of demands, they ought to have paid attention to our response.”
The remarks from Siddiqui came shortly after jailed founding PTI chairman Imran Khan directed his party to call off the ongoing talks with the government for its failure to constitute judicial commissions within seven days.
PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan announced the decision of his party that there would be no more talks with the government as it failed to constitute the two separate judicial commissions, leaving no reason for the party to continue the talks.
In an effort to ease political tensions, the talks between the ruling coalition and PTI had begun in late December, but despite several weeks of parleys, which included three sessions to date, there has been minimal advancement on critical issues, especially on the formation of two separate judicial commissions to investigate the events of May 9, 2023 and November 28, 2024.
Siddiqui claimed that PTI took 42 days to table its charter of demands and now they want the government to constitute a judicial commission in seven days, which is not an easy task, as we needed some time to deliberate.
“We reckon the seven working days will be completed on January 28," he said, wondering why PTI threatened to pull out of talks.
“It is hard to ascertain as to what went wrong in the last seven days that led the party to give up on talks,” he exclaimed.
“The PTI promptly initiated discussions, yet it has equally swiftly withdrawn, a move that is difficult to understand. They exhibit the same impatience now as they did at the outset. We urge them to remain steadfast and allow conditions to improve,” he added.
Siddiqui continued that the government committee took PTI’s demands seriously and formed a sub-committee, which includes seven allied parties, to chalk out a written response.
"We had almost formed an opinion on the PTI’s demands,” he said, asking PTI to reconsider its decision if they can form an opinion apart from that of Imran Khan’s.
He also said that the government had exhibited restraint at many points during the talks and ignored many actions by the PTI, including posts by Imran Khan on X.
He also said that the government did not raise objections to Imran Khan’s ongoing civil disobedience call since it wanted to make progress in talks in the “spirit of democracy and give and take.”
He called on Imran Khan to reconsider its course of action or inform the government in writing if the negotiations are over.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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