PTI-govt negotiators to meet on Jan 16 for ‘decisive talks’

In a major development, the “decisive” third session of the negotiation between the committees representing the government and the opposition PTI has been convened on January 16 by National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.

The much-anticipated in-camera session will be held at 11:30am on Thursday at the Parliament House, during which the former ruling party will likely to present its demands in writing before the government’s team.

The development came a day after the PTI’s negotiators met incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi. The meeting, according to the former ruling party, was arranged in a “controlled environment”.

Following the meeting with the PTI founder, the former ruling party had announced that they were ready for the third round of talks with the ruling coalition.

The date for the crucial meeting was fixed following a telephonic conversation between PTI leader Asad Qaiser and the NA speaker, sources told Geo News on Monday.

The 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician has been behind bars since August last year after he was sentenced in Toshakhana case-I — one of the dozens of cases registered against the former premier since his ouster from power in April 2022.

PTI seeks progress on demands

A day earlier, addressing a joint press conference alongside PTI senior leaders Omar Ayub Khan and Asad Qaiser, Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) head Sahibzada Hamid Raza, who also serves as the spokesperson for the negotiation team, urged the government to make progress on their demands during the upcoming round of dialogue.

He called on the government to establish an “impartial judicial commission” headed by a senior Supreme Court judge to investigate the events of May 9, 2023, and November 26, 2024.

“No progress has been made in the negotiations so far,” he said, emphasising the need for the government to act on their demands, particularly the establishment of the judicial commission.

Stressing that the release of political prisoners and the formation of a judicial commission were integral to their demands, Raza said that PTI would submit their two demands in writing to the government’s team during the upcoming session.

Raza warned that the dialogue would no longer continue if the judicial commission was not constituted and the former ruling party would not extend the deadline for talks with the government beyond January 31.

“Show the CCTV footage if you (the government) believe PTI is responsible (for the May 9 violence),” he demanded.