ISLAMABAD, April 27, 2023: The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government and the PTI on Thursday finally sat at the negotiating table at the Senate Secretariat in a bid to defuse political deadlock prevailing in the country for months.
The move comes as the Supreme Court (SC) had urged the political stakeholders to hold talks for the sake of constitution.
The PTI delegation comprises Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry and Senator Ali Zafar while the government side is represented by Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Ayaz Sadiq, Yusuf Raza Gilani, Commerce Minister Syed Naveed Qamar, Kishwar Zahra and Muhammad Abubakr.
Earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday agreed to start talks with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on elections today at 6pm.
Sources said Attorney General Mansoor Awan called on the PM and apprised him of the court proceedings. The JUI-F would not become a part of the negotiations, sources told.
Later, federal law minister Azam Nazir Tarar and Senator Ali Zafar also came in contact with each other.
Earlier, Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani had, in a letter written to Leader of the House Ishaq Dar and Leader of Opposition Shehzad Wasim, sought four names each from the government and the opposition in the Senate for constituting a special committee for talks. He wrote that he had been approached by the government and allies to “facilitate the initiation of political dialogue to address the ongoing political and economic crisis including the holding of general elections.
“In this context, the constitution of a committee comprising members of the Senate belonging to both sides of the aisles has been proposed,” he penned.
Mr Sanjarani noted that the Senate was bestowed with the responsibility of “protecting the national and political harmony vis-a-vis the national and public interest”. Therefore, he continued, a 10-member committee was being formed for holding political dialogue under the joint convenorship of Dar and Shahzad. It will comprise four members each from the treasury and opposition benches.
“My office and the Senate Secretariat will remain available to assist/facilitate the committee in the performance of its functions for preserving the political system and for the betterment of the state,” he wrote.
He directed both the opposition and government to nominate the names of their members within two days.
A day ago, PTI Chairman Imran Khan constituted a three-member committee to hold talks with the PDM-led government over the latter’s decision to hold simultaneous elections in the country.
The committee consists of PTI vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, PTI senior vice president Fawad Chaudhry, and Senator Ali Zafar. The move comes as the Supreme Court had ordered the political stakeholders to end political deadlock and submit a report by April 27.
The government, represented by federal law minister Azam Nazir Tarar and railway minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, responded positively and asked Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani to nominate five senators each from the government and the opposition to form a committee.
The government representatives also requested the chairman to provide space in the parliament to hold negotiations.