The decision to invite Imran for negotiations was made not by PDM but by affiliated parties, according to a representative for PDM.
The opening of the extremely unlikely potential of talks may suffer a setback as a result of statements made by the PDM as well as leaders inside the PML-N.
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Democrat Movement (PDM) and the allied parties in the government on Saturday distanced themselves from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar’s invitation to hold talks with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former premier Imran Khan, claiming that inviting Imran for talks was not the PDM and allied parties’ choice.
The PDM spokesperson Hafiz Hamdullah stated that the “decision of the law minister [and] PM to offer talks to Imran Khan is not the decision of PDM and the allied parties,” implying that the decision was solely made by the PM or leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
The PDM spokesperson made her comments shortly after PM Shehbaz and the law minister invited the PTI chairman to a meeting. Imran and his party not only accepted the offer favorably, but they also urged the government to pick the time and location for the talks to begin.
While PM Shehbaz has extended an olive branch to Imran and the two have both expressed a desire to hold substantive discussions for the benefit of the nation, its interests, and democracy, other PML-N leaders, such as Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz, have been labeling Imran a “terrorist” and supporting the same on social media, potentially putting a stop to the unusual opening of the possibility of talks.
While Maryam has said that the government should treat Imran and the PTI in the same way that it does terrorists, the PDM spokesperson has distanced itself and the allied parties from the prime minister’s proposal.
PTI is still open for negotiations, according to Read Fawad.
With PDM’s declaration and the demand that Imran and PTI be treated like terrorists, divisions within the ruling coalition have begun to surface regarding how the government should handle the PTI leader and his party, particularly in light of PTI workers’ confrontation with law enforcement earlier this week when the police tried to arrest Imran at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore.
In the statement, while commenting on the current political situation, Hamdullah said that Imran was granted bail in eight cases within minutes, adding that “all there is left to be seen is for the injured policemen to be ordered to go to Zaman Park and seek forgiveness from Imran Khan”. The PDM spokesperson attacked Imran, claiming that by Imran’s definition, fighting against the state, courts, law, and law enforcers constitutes jihad.
Before Maryam Nawaz and Marriyum Aurangzeb, the PDM’s spokespersons, made their statements, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leadership had also threatened to resign from the federal government over disagreements with the current digital census and if the Center did not keep its promise to aid flood victims in Sindh.
In order to allay PPP leadership concerns about the census, Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Ahsan Iqbal swiftly granted access to the census monitoring dashboard to provincial governments.
In order to convince the important ally to continue supporting the federal government and avoid any second thoughts at a time when the nation is experiencing a political upheaval amid severe financial crises just before the general elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the decision to grant access to the provincial governments, particularly Sindh, was made.
