ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz has formed a committee comprising members of government coalition to negotiate with the opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
From Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Ishaq Dar, Rana Sanaullah and Senator Irfan Siddiqui are included in the committee. From the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Raja Pervez Ashraf and Naveed Qamar are included, while Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui is also part of the committee. Abdul Aleem Khan, Chaudhry Salik and Sardar Khalid Magsi are also made part of the committee by the prime minister.
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PM Sharif formed the committee on the proposal of the National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq. Yesterday, the speaker had suggested the premier on the committee, after PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar had requested the NA speaker to play a role in the negotiations.
Sardar Ayaz Sadiq had reportedly informed the prime minister that PTI had also made a committee to negotiate with the government. In a statement at the National Assembly Secretariat, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq also addressed Barrister Gohar’s remarks made outside the court.
“Barrister Gohar has acknowledged the role of the Speaker as the custodian of the house,” Ayaz Sadiq said, adding, “He has requested the Speaker to actively play his role in the negotiations.”
“I accept Barrister Gohar’s proposal to form a negotiation committee,” NA Speaker said. The solution to the problems lies in negotiations, he added.
Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said, “We want to resolve the issues. Political instability should end.”
FAWAD CHAUDHRY IS UNHAPPY
While the government and the PTI leadership seem to be moving towards an agreement with negotiation committees formed on both ends, some members of the political fraternity are unhappy. Former PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry took to X, formerly Twitter, and shared his disapproval with the current PTI leadership.
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He wrote, “These people, belonging to the specific lobby of PTI, are playing politics and [minting] money by keeping Imran Khan in jail. PTI will have to come out of their influence and only then the release of Imran Khan will be possible”.
Chaudhry wrote, “[Changing this] new leadership of PTI which is involved in the conspiracy to keep the founder of PTI [Imran Khan] in jail and is running the minus Imran formula, is inevitable”.
He said that he will meet Imran Khan in Adiala Jail and will demand the change of the “compromised leadership”.