ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in Senate Allama Raja Nasir Abbas has demanded that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to form a committee, mandated with holding dialogue with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), to de-escalate the looming tension between the political party and the government— ahead of the PTI’s long march.
“Even the big battles are settled on the dialogue table,” he told the journalists at the Parliament House on Monday.
“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif should form a team for dialogue— when political figures sit together— they find a solution,” he said.
Besides PM, he urged Maulana Fazalur Rehman, as well as the leaderships of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and other political parties to play their role in defusing the tension.
“In this process, Shehbaz Sharif should participate. The leadership of PPP and PML-N should join. Similarly, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and JI, along with other political parties, be included. These people should come together today, tomorrow, or the day after, but they must sit together. If Pakistan is truly dear to them, they should show seriousness,” the lawmaker said.
Abbas admitted that his recent meeting with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi regarding the government’s dialogue with the PTI proved inconclusive. However, he said, the dialogue process needs to continue.
“The previous dialogue did not yield any immediate conclusive result. The dialogue process should be given more time. Only if no result emerges from the dialogue, can it be said that we have failed,” said the senator.
“Teams should be formed from both sides for negotiations, and empowered individuals should step forward who have the authority to pull the country out of this crisis,” he said.
When asked by the reporters to comment on the “voluntary” arrests of PTI lawmakers ahead of 27 September long march, Abbas asked back, “Why don’t you ask that the lawmakers are being illegally arrested? Why don’t you raise this question; that it is absolutely against the constitution and the law to arrest the people peacefully sitting in the Parliament Lodges? Those who arrested the peaceful legislators, who are they to do so? Who gave them this right?”
Last month, the PTI announced to begin its long march in support of incarcerated party founder and former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
On 5 August, the PTI held public rallies across the country to mark three years of Khan’s imprisonment.
Addressing a related public gathering in Peshawar the same day, Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sohail Afridi announced the long march against what he said were frivolous cases pursued against the ex-PM.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026