Amid looming Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) January 31 deadline for the result-oriented conclusion of negotiations, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq has expressed satisfaction over talks being held in "more conducive environment", saying that the former ruling party would present its "charter of demands" in next session after meeting its founder Imran Khan.
"In the last meeting we decided that PTI would present its charter of demands, but the opposition demanded another meeting with [PTI founder] Imran Khan to chalk out the list of demands and the next meeting will be held next week, hopefully," Sadiq said while talking to journalists after the conclusion of the second round of talks.
Welcoming the talks being held in a cordial environment, he said that KP CM Gandapur also tabled "excellent proposals and spoke with an open heart".
"The conclusion of the talks was that all of the participants decided to sit together for the betterment of Pakistan such as economy, terrorism and any other issue," he added.
The meeting was chaired by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq in the Parliament House’s Constitution Committee Room as he was facilitating and leading the negotiations between the treasury and the opposition.
The PTI's negotiation team was represented by Leader of Opposition in NA Omar Ayub, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, former NA speaker Asad Qaiser, party's secretary-general Salman Akram Raja Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) chairman Allama Raja Nasir Abbas and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) chief Sahibzada Hamid Raza.
Whereas, the government's team include Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, PM's Adviser Rana Sanaullah, Senator Irfan Siddiqui, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Naveed Qamar, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) lawmaker Farooq Sattar and Balochistan Awami Party lawmaker Khalid Magsi.
Joint declaration
Reading out the joint declaration of the meeting, Senator Siddiqui said that PTI's Ayub and others presented their point of view in detail.
"They [PTI] demanded the release of incarcerated Imran Khan and their workers and formation of judicial commission on the events of May 9, 2023 and Nov 26," he said.
Furthermore, he said, that the opposition wanted to meet the incarcerated PTI founder for consultation to chalk out the "charter of demands". "They [PTI] said Imran had allowed to start this negotiation process... in a bid to continue the process in a positive manner, Imran's guidance is necessary," he added.
Siddiqui noted that the opposition agreed to table the charter of demand in written form after consulting the party founder. During the meeting, he said, the government has no objection to the PTI committee meeting the jailed founder.
"It was agreed that the date for the third round of talks will be announced after the PTI committee meets Imran," he concluded.
