Islamabad, Aug 17 (PTI) – The Sharifs’ ruling PML-N on Saturday ruled out any talks with the main opposition party led by Imran Khan, saying the jailed former prime minister must take the issue seriously.
Irfan Siddiqui, a senator from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), spoke to Dawn news channel when asked about Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
“We have repeatedly said, ‘Well, you have entered Parliament – by whatever means – then at least sit down at this level and try to resolve your issues.’ … (But) they do not want to talk and we have also thought that we will not now repeatedly shout to them from our rooftops, ‘Come and talk to us,'” Siddiqui said in the interview broadcast on Friday evening.
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However, he said the PML-N and its coalition partners would “consider whether to open the door for talks with the PTI or not” if that party “is serious.” The Pakistani government announced a ban on Khan’s PTI last month. Khan, 71, has been in Adiala jail for a year, where several cases are pending against him.
Earlier, Khan’s PTI-backed candidates won the majority of seats in the February general election despite contesting as independents because the party was denied an electoral symbol. Khan claimed that the PML-N and its coalition partners, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), had “stolen the mandate” to seize power at the federal level.
Relations between the PTI and the PML-N-led coalition government – already strained since Khan’s ouster in 2022 – have deteriorated further, and the announcement of the PTI ban seems to be the proverbial final nail in the door.
Senator Siddiqui stressed that dialogue depends on when the PTI realises that “we should not talk to the army but to politicians.” He added that Mahmood Khan Achakzai, chairman of the Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and leader of the opposition alliance, might be able to “make the PTI understand” that dialogue between the political parties is necessary.
“The point is that one party does not want to have talks with you, and that party is clearly behind the May 9 incidents,” Siddiqui said, referring to the violent protests last year following Imran’s arrest.
After Khan was arrested in an accountability drive last year, hundreds of thousands of his supporters and party workers vandalised a dozen military installations, including Jinnah House (Lahore Corps Commander’s house), Mianwali Air Force Base and the ISI building in Faisalabad on May 9. The Army Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi was also attacked by mobs for the first time.
Although the PML-N has offered dialogue to the PTI on several occasions, its founder Khan set certain conditions, including the return of the “stolen mandate,” and preferred talks with the military instead.
Earlier this month, senior PTI politician and MP Ali Muhammad Khan hinted that his party might be ready to negotiate with the PML-N, the PPP and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan to resolve ongoing tensions between the government and the opposition, provided the PTI’s demands were met.
Referring to the government’s decision to seek a ban on the PTI, Senator Siddiqui stressed that the role of the PTI “cannot be that of a patriotic (political) party.” “The role of this party cannot in any way be called pro-Pakistan,” said the senior PML-N lawmaker.
Siddiqui then cited the PTI’s letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the protests it organised outside the Fund’s offices, the May 9 riots and several resolutions passed in the US Congress.
“All these elements and ingredients are such on the basis of which a decision can be taken. When the National Awami Party was banned, they did not take such measures. They did not carry out such attacks as the PTI did,” the senator said. PTI SH NPK NPK NPK
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