Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday urged the coalition government to “give a date and venue” for a meeting that would bring together all political parties to the table, Pakistan-based Dawn newspaper reported.
Pakistan’s top regulatory body of lawyers said it was ready to mediate between the government and the opposition. PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry in a tweet said that Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar was giving statements every day to sit together and solve issues and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had also asked for talks.
“Extend this process beyond statements and give a date and venue for the [political] parties to meet. Imran Khan has already favoured dialogues,” he tweeted, according to Dawn.
The statement by Chaudhry came a day after Khan struck a conciliatory tone, saying he was ready to “talk to anyone” and “render any sacrifice” for the country’s sake.
“I will not shy away from any sacrifice for the sake of Pakistan’s uplift, interest and democracy. In this regard, I am willing to talk to anyone and take every step towards it,” the PTI chief tweeted on Thursday, as per Dawn.
This came after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif while extending an olive branch to PTI Chairman Khan, said that all political forces will have to sit for dialogue to rid the country of the ongoing political and economic crises, Dawn reported.
He said the government would hold the general election at its scheduled time as per the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The PM also said that the threat of Pakistan defaulting on its debt was now over as the staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would be finalised soon.
“All political forces will have to sit together to take the country forward,” the premier said while addressing a meeting held with a delegation of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) at the PM House, Dawn reported.
Sharif lamented that he had invited PTI for talks on two occasions in the recent past, but the party did not turn up.
“Though politicians always resort to dialogue, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has a history of not responding positively in this regard,” he said.
The prime minister said the country was facing serious political and economic challenges but stressed that all component parties of the Pakistan Democratic Alliance (PDM) ruling coalition had contributed positively to improving the situation, Dawn reported.