LAHORE: After an initial refusal to hold talks with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) after the formation of the new body, senior leaders of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) on Sunday said that they were ready to hold talks with the government to save the alliance.
According to sources, a government committee led by Chief Minister Usman Buzdar approached the PML-Q for talks wherein it was agreed that a meeting would be held on Monday to iron out differences.
Meanwhile, on Friday, reports had claimed that PTI senior leader Tareen was reportedly unhappy for being ignored in the new dialogue committees formed by PM Imran. In a meeting with Khattak on Wednesday, Tareen was said to have conveyed his reservations over some party leaders who were giving the impression that he was responsible for the breakdown in the talks process with allied parties.
The PML-Q had also rejected the new committee, saying the PTI-led government must initiate implementation on matters negotiated between the two parties before embarking on new talks.
“We will not talk to the new forum comprising Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, Governor Chaudhry Sarwar and Federal Minister Shafqat Mahmood,” PML-Q leader Chaudhry Moonis Elahi had said.
“First the promises and commitments made by the earlier committee consisting of senior PTI leader Jehangir Tareen and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak will have to be fulfilled. Only then, the PML-Q will talk to the new body,” he had announced.
The Chaudhry brothers, Shujaat and Pervaiz, had said that talks with the government would only be held after previously negotiated matters become a reality.
Speaking about the newly-formed committee, the PML-Q leaders had said that making unilateral changes “creates distrust and urged the federal government to refrain from creating such a pattern”.
Earlier on Friday, Pervaiz Elahi while speaking to a delegation of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) had said that PTI should refrain from treating its allies as its “second wife”, revealing growing divide in the ruling coalition led by PTI.
“The government should not consider its allies as its competitors and should honour the promises it made when it formed an alliance with them. We had different experiences as allies with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and PTI. Our best alliance was with PPP because former president Asif Ali Zardari did more than he promised,” he had emphasised.
