Islamabad: The protest against the Nawaz Sharif regime took a new turn on Thursday with cleric Tahirul Qadri opening a dialogue with government and Imran Khan sticking to his ‘no-talks’ position unless the Prime Minister resigns as the Supreme Court summoned both the leaders on Friday for hearing a petition against the siege of Parliament.
But soon after Imran vowed no talks with the government, reports emerged that negotiations between PTI leadership and a government delegation has begun to end the impasse.
The PTI delegation has reportedly presented a six-point charter of demands to the government team. The demands included Sharif’s resignation, re-elections, reforms of electoral laws, neutral caretaker government, new election commission and punishments to those responsible for rigging last year’s polls.
Earlier, the apparent difference in the approach of the two leaders came after the powerful army counselled a peaceful resolution of the week-long crisis, even as Khan said he would abide by the verdict of the Supreme Court on the protest.
The cricketer-turned-politician and Pakistan Tehreek-i- Insaf (PTI) chief, who had threatened to storm Sharif’s residence at 8 pm tonight, instead addressed his supporters conscious of the court hearing tomorrow which observers feel may provide him with a face-saver.
“We have decided to negotiate with you Nawaz Sharif, but listen carefully —- the negotiation will start with the resignation of Prime Minister Sharif. How can a probe under Nawaz Sharif be transparent?” Khan said. Khan said his party has prepared a committee to negotiate with the government, but it will not move ahead unless the prime minister steps down.
“I will not leave this place until Nawaz Sharif resigns,” he said. “You resign, make an independent committee which investigates (rigging) and then we can proceed.”
Cancelling his deadline which expired in the evening to storm the Prime Minister’s House, Khan said, “Sharif has a heart problem and I don’t want to aggravate that by marching on his residence.”
Analysts said Khan in his address showed signs of softening his stand. This came after the army chief had asked all stakeholders to hold “meaningful” talks to end the crisis, a source close to the ruling PML-N said.
“It seems that Khan has got the message. The start of talks may be beginning of the end of the crisis,” a PML-N leader told PTI.
In the first sign of thaw between the government and the protesters, Sharif on Thursday sent a four-member team to negotiate a deal with Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) leader Qadri.
Qadri declined to give any guarantee about the success of the dialogue but maintained that he had never opposed talks.
The PAT during its negotiations with the government committee stuck to one of its central demands that those responsible for the Model Town incident be brought to book. (PTI)
