Talks between the government and the Imran Khan-founded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) are finally underway at the Parliament House in Islamabad after a brief delay.
Meeting at the Parliament House on Monday, both sides are holding the dialogue with “hopes of a positive outcome” in a bid to ease the country’s political tensions.
Although both sides were reluctant earlier to move ahead with the negotiations, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had on Sunday constituted a high-level committee comprising senior members of the coalition government to hold dialogue with the main opposition party.
The committee includes Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Rana Sanaullah, Senator Irfan Siddiqui, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Naveed Qamar, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Abdul Aleem Khan and Chaudhry Salik Hussain.
But the party is yet to call off its currently postponed civil disobedience movement. The government members have stressed that talks won’t bear fruit if they are done under pressure.
The PTI’s committee for talks so far comprises Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub, former NA speaker Asad Qaiser, PTI General Secretary Salman Akram Raja, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur, Sunni Ittehad Council Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza, senior PTI leader Hamid Khan and Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen Allama Raja Nasir Abbas.
