https://arab.news/8v3tp
- Rana Sanaullah says all outstanding issues causing political polarization can come under discussion
- Khan has threatened civil disobedience if the government doesn’t implement his demands by Dec. 22
ISLAMABAD: The government will set up a committee “in a day or two” to negotiate with the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, said the adviser to the country’s prime minister on political affairs on Friday, adding it was possible to discuss all outstanding issues causing political polarization in the country.
The move comes as PTI founder and former Pakistan premier, Imran Khan, threatened to launch civil disobedience by asking overseas nationals, who widely support his party, to stop sending remittances if the government does not implement his demands, including the release of political prisoners, by Dec. 22.
Khan himself remains incarcerated for over a year on charges that he says are politically motivated to keep him away from power. He has also demanded judicial commissions to investigate protests on May 9 last year and Nov. 26 this year in which the government says supporters of PTI partook in violence and caused vandalism.
The ex-premier has already established a negotiating committee to talk to the government.
“The [National Assembly] Speaker [Ayaz Saddiq] has contacted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in this regard,” Rana Sanaullah, Sharif’s political adviser, told Geo TV in an interview. “My own sense is that there will be a breakthrough on this [setting up on the negotiating committee] in another day or two.”
The country has remained in the grip of political unrest and uncertainty since Khan’s ouster from power in a parliamentary no-confidence vote, which also led to economic hardships for Pakistan.
The country’s national economy heavily depends on remittances by overseas Pakistanis who contributed about $30 billion in fiscal year 2023-24.
Khan has also warned the government not to project the PTI’s offer for negotiations as a sign of “surrender.”
Sanaullah said during his interview negotiations could help both sides find a way out of the current political impasse.
However, he said it was premature to say which ones of the PTI’s demands would be met.
“If they force us to accept these demands before the talks, then what is the need for these negotiations,” he asked.