After the announcement by Imran Khan of countrywide protests to press his demand for a thorough investigation into the alleged rigging in last year’s general elections, the government showed yesterday its readiness to resume dialogue with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.
Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Ahmed Shah claimed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had in his presence asked Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to look into the possibility of resuming talks with the PTI.
In the dialogue in early September, the government team was led by Mr. Dar while the PTI was led by its Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Despite public pronouncements of their willingness to hold talks to end over 15 weeks of political crisis, both the government and the PTI have been accusing each other of stalling the dialogue.
Sources said that the government was open to talks, but not willing to concede on its earlier stance that election tribunals were the only legal forum to decide on election petitions, and not the proposed judicial commission.
