Members of the ruling ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) met again at the Parliament House on Tuesday (today) for a third round of crucial election talks.
The statements from both sides gave the impression that the two feuding parties were unable to compromise on their position about the polls.
A three-member delegation of the PTI led by Shah Mehmood Qureshi and comprising Fawad Chaudhary and Senator Ali Zafar has arrived at the Parliament House in Islamabad to hold talks with the government’s team.
The government team comprises former prime minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar, Law Minister Senator Azam Nazir Tarar, Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique, Minister for Commerce Naveed Qamar, Minister for National Food Security and Research Tariq Bashir Cheema, and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan Kishwar Zahra.
Speaking to the media upon his arrival at Parliament House today, Qureshi said “the PTI’s conditions will be known to all after today’s talks”.
To a question about “mistakes” from both sides during the course of the negotiations, Qureshi maintained that the PTI had made none. “We are proceeding seriously and honestly,” he said.
Earlier, members of the PTI’s negotiating team held a meeting to determine the plan of action and strategy for the meeting.
Though both the negotiating teams signaled positive responses after the second round of dialogue saying that they were slowly moving forward on the big question of holding the countrywide election on the same day. It remains to be seen how the two would shed their strong public postures to accommodate each other to clinch the agreement.
However, statements from both sides of the aisle before the crucial negotiations suggest that there are few chances that they will result in anything.
Imran Khan, the leader of the PTI, restated his position that he would march to the streets if the PDM-led government disobeyed the Supreme Court’s ruling on the polls postponement case in an interview with a local TV channel earlier today.
