Islamabad (Web Desk): National Assembly (NA) Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Friday summoned the 4th session of the negotiation committees of the government and the opposition on January 28 (Tuesday).
According to a news release issued by the National Assembly Secretariat, the high-level meeting will be held at 11:45am in Committee Room 5 of the Parliament House.
The NA speaker will chair the meeting of the negotiation committees.
On the other side, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan revealed on Friday that the ongoing talks with the government have been halted by PTI’s leader Imran Khan, citing the administration’s failure to meet the party’s expectations.
Speaking to the media outside Parliament House, Gohar explained that PTI had laid out two key demands, one of which was the formation of judicial commissions to probe events related to May 9 and November 26. However, no action had been taken by the government to fulfill these requests within the agreed-upon seven-day period.
"PTI founder Imran Khan decided to suspend negotiations after lack of progress fron the government's side," Gohar said.
He stressed that the government could have at least made an announcement regarding the creation of the commissions, which he argued was a reasonable expectation within the timeframe given.
Barrister Gohar emphasized that PTI was still open to reconsidering talks if the government proceeded with establishing the commissions, showing their commitment to investigating the incidents from May and November.
He added that the seven-day deadline was a clear indication of PTI's intent to give the government a fair opportunity, yet the lack of movement on this front only served to underline their true motives.
Despite the setback, Gohar reaffirmed PTI's willingness to engage in constructive dialogue, but only if the government demonstrated genuine intent to follow through on their commitments.
Separately, spokesperson for the government’s negotiation committee Senator Irfan Siddiqui criticised PTI’s decision to call off negotiations.
Speaking to the media outside Parliament House, he pointed out that his side had not walked away from the talks, but rather, it was the other side that abruptly ended them.
Siddiqui emphasized the difficulty in continuing discussions when the other party is not present to negotiate, jokingly asking if they were supposed to sit in a room and speak to the walls.
He criticized the unpredictable nature of the PTI’s actions, noting that decisions were being made hastily without informing the negotiation committee.
Irfan Siddiqui stressed that this was not a trivial matter and called on the other side to move beyond their hesitations and uncertainties.
He also reminded everyone that there was an established timeline for the discussions, with a meeting set for January 28, which should have been honoured.