ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The next round of talks between the federal government and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) negotiating teams which was scheduled to be held in Islamabad on Tuesday has been postponed.
At least 104 children were killed while over 80 sustained injuries when up to eight militants wearing military uniform stormed Army Public School Peshawar on Wasrak Road on Tuesday, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak said and also announced a three-day mourning.
The sources said that the federal finance minister Ishaq Dar made a call to the PTI senior leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi today and decided not to hold talks today, which were aimed at finding a amicable solution to current political crisis.
The two sides in their previous round of talks on Sunday evening exchanged initial proposals and demands with regard to formation of a Judicial Commission to probe alleged rigging in 2013 general elections.
The federal finance minister Ishaq Dar and the federal minister for planning and development Ashan Iqbal represented the government side while the PTI side was represented by their leaders Asad Umer and Jehangir Tareen during the talks.
Later talking to media representatives after the talks, the finance minister said that the government is serious to resolve the current political standoff through dialogue.
Ishaq Dar hoped that both sides would reach consensus to resolve all issues amicably.
On the other hand, the PTI Secretary General Jehangir Tareen expressed the hope that the talks would prove result-oriented.
Meanwhile, the prime minister’s special assistant Irfan Siddiqui said while talking to a private television channel that negotiating teams of the government and the PTI have decided that they would not disclose the details about the dialogue till reaching a final agreement.
Irfan Siddiqui said that any leak of the talks could trigger a public debate and sabotage the dialogue process.
On Monday evening, addressing the party’s protest participants in Lahore, the PTI Chairman Imran Khan said that we can form a Judicial Commission in mere 48 hours tomorrow.
Imran Khan said that if Nawaz Sharif doesn’t come on table for talks, then my next plan is ready
Later talking to a television channel soon after Imran Khan’s speech in Lahore, the prime minister’s spokesman Dr Mussadiq Malik said that the government sincerely wanted to form a judicial commission on Imran Khan’s demand, but warned that any provocation from the PTI could again hamper the dialogue process.
Dr Mussadiq Malik advised the PTI chairman to avoid the politics of provocation because it could affect the dialogue process. He said that the government was determined to resolve the four-month long political confrontation with the PTI through talks.
