Islamabad: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has come under fire from Attaullah Tarar, the country’s information minister, over its decision to halt negotiations with the government. According to The Express Tribune, he said that the administration was trying to find a “middle ground” by proposing to form a committee rather than a judicial panel.

“It is not necessary to constitute a commission…we were deliberating on a middle ground to take things forward,” Tarar said in an interview with a private news program. According to him, the party created by Imran Khan acted with “malicious intent” and made a “hasty decision.”

“Our response to PTI’s demands was to come,” he said, further stating that “extensive discussions” had been placed on the matter. “They should have found a legitimate excuse to prove they had been victimized,” he remarked, criticizing the PTI for its decision. The burden is now on them.
His comments followed PTI founder Imran Khan’s decision to halt negotiations with the government headed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) because it had not established a judicial committee in the seven days that had been promised.

According to The Express Tribune, PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan told reporters outside of Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail that the decision was made in response to Imran Khan’s annoyance at the government’s lack of action.

Gohar said, “The founder of PTI has categorically announced that no further rounds of negotiations will take place.” He said that Imran Khan ended the talks because the government had made promises but had not yet fulfilled them.

According to The Express Tribune, three rounds of conversations have been held so far in an effort to defuse political tensions between the PTI and the PML-N-led government, which started in December.
The party created by Imran Khan has called for the creation of two judicial commissions: one to look into the riots that occurred on May 9, 2023, and another to look into the crackdown on a PTI demonstration in Islamabad on November 26, 2024. Additionally, the PTI has called for the release of “political prisoners.”

In the third session of talks between the two parties, the PTI officially presented its “charter of demands” to the government on January 16, according to Dawn. Eight government members and six opposition representatives, including three PTI leaders, attended the meeting, which was overseen by the speaker of the National Assembly.

PTI MNA Asad Qaiser, Sunni Ittehad Council chief Hamid Raza, Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen chief Senator Raja Nasir Abbas Jafri, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub all represented the opposition.

Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, PML-N Senator Irfan Siddiqui, PPP MNAs Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Naveed Qamar, Prime Minister’s assistant Rana Sanaullah, and MQM-P MNA Farooq Sattar represented the government’s position at the meeting.