ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry on Saturday informed the Senate that Pakistan remains committed to resolving all issues through dialogue with Afghanistan.
However, Fazal said that Pak–Afghan negotiations have faced delays due to the non-provision of written guarantees from the Afghan side.
Responding to points raised by Mashal Azam in the Senate, he said the government fully supported the ongoing Pakistan–Afghanistan peace talks.
“This government has always believed that all outstanding issues with Afghanistan must be resolved through negotiations,” he noted.
However, he said that despite verbal acknowledgements by the Taliban regime regarding the presence of TTP safe havens, the refusal to provide written assurances had resulted in the current stalemate in talks.
Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said that Pakistan would continue pursuing diplomatic channels to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region.
Referring to a 2018 precedent when Nawaz Sharif, had signed Senate election tickets as President of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), he said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan later ruled that a convicted individual could not issue party tickets, causing the cancellation of those nominations and the election of candidates as independent members.
He said it was therefore misleading and undemocratic to claim that constitutional amendments could only be undertaken with the consent of a convicted person.
“The authority to amend the Constitution rests solely with Parliament — the Senate and the National Assembly — through a two-thirds majority,” he said.
