Pak PM offers parliamentary committee to advance negotiations with opposition PTI party

Islamabad, Jan 30 (PTI) Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday proposed the formation of a parliamentary committee to advance negotiations with jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) after talks faltered with the opposition party.

The two sides on December 23 last year initiated talks but the process entered into a dead alley just after three sittings when the PTI walked away over the issue of delay in the formation of judicial commissions on events of May 9, 2023, and November 26 last year.

As the parleys ran aground, the PTI announced a re-launch of agitations and said February 8 would be observed as a “Black Day” to protest the alleged rigging in the polls held last year.

It plans to hold rallies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Swabi and Punjab's Lahore on February 8.

Shehbaz while addressing a meeting of the federal cabinet made a bid to cool the temper and offered a way forward by saying that a bipartisan committee comprising members of parliament be formed to probe the events in place of a judicial committee.

He said the committee should be set up on the same pattern as formed in 2018 when the PTI came to power and then the opposition led by Shehbaz Sharif demanded a probe in the elections.

"They offered a house committee and we accepted it. The 2018 house committee should conduct its probe and so should the committee that will be formed to probe the 2024 general elections,” he said.

“Similarly, the parliamentary committees should probe the November 26 as well as 2014 protest events. It takes two to tango," the prime minister said.

The prime minister said he was ready with good intentions to advance the dialogue so that the country could move forward. "The country can not sustain more damage," he said.

However, the PTI has not responded to the new offer and it is less likely to accept the proposal as the party would first try to show its street power. PTI SH PY PY