NA secretariat convenes meeting on Jan 2 for govt-PTI talks

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) Secretariat Monday issued an official notice for the second meeting for talks between the government and the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday, January 2, 2025.

“Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq will chair the second meeting (in-camera) on negotiations between the Treasury and the Opposition at 11:30am on Thursday, the 2nd January in Constitution Room of the Parliament House,” the notice issued by the NA Secretariat said.

Talks between the government and PTI teams, being facilitated and spearheaded by the NA speaker, started with the first meeting held at the Parliament House on Dec 23.

During the meeting, it was decided that the PTI negotiating team would come up with a charter of demands in writing for discussion in the second meeting on Jan 2. The PTI leadership had already stated that release of PTI founder Imran Khan and other political prisoners and formation of judicial commission to probe the May 9 and Nov 26 incidents would top its demands during talks.

The government committee, announced by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, included Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Prime Minister’s adviser Rana Sanaullah Khan and Senator Irfan Siddiqui from Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Naveed Qamar from Pakistan Peoples Party, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui from MQM, Abdul Aleem Khan (Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party),and Chaudhry Salik Hussain (Pakistan Muslim League-Q).

Later, the PM appointed Khalid Magsi (Balochistan Awami Party) and Ijazul Haq (PML-Zia) as two more members to the committee. The PTI team includes ex-speaker Asad Qaisar, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, opposition leader in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan, Senator Shibli Faraz, PTI spokesman Raoof Hassan and Sahibzada Hamid Raza.