ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formed a committee comprising representatives from all ruling coalition political parties to review and respond to the demands of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to address the political tensions in the country, PM’s aide on political affairs Rana Sanaullah said on Thursday.
Flanked by the coalition government’s negotiation committee spokesperson Senator Irfan Siddiqui, Sanaullah addressed a press conference in Islamabad to brief the media on a meeting between the PTI and the government’s negotiation committees.
Sanaullah said the committee will review and respond to PTI’s demands.
“For now, I am presenting the initial opinion on the demands,” said Sanaullah adding that the PTI demanded the release of its “political prisoners” and party founder Imran Khan.
Speaking about the PTI demands to form the chief justice-led probe on May 9, 2023, violent protests and November 26, 2024 crackdown on the party workers, Sanaullah said both of the matters had already been investigated.
“An inquiry cannot be opened again on their demands while it [matters] is already in the courts,” he said.
The PM’s aide also rubbished the PTI’s claims that “hundreds of its workers were killed and went missing” following the November 26 crackdown on the demonstrators in Islamabad’s D-Chowk area last year.
“They could not even figure out as to how many of their workers were missing or injured in two and a half months. If hundreds of their workers had gone missing, their families would have staged a sit-in at D-Chowk,” he added.
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Moreover, Sanaullah said the PTI did not even provide any details of its “political prisoners” or missing or killed workers.
It is hoped that the decision of the £190 million case against the PTI founder and his wife will be announced tomorrow, he said.
Earlier today, the PTI finally presented its demands in writing, seeking probes into the May 9, 2023, and November 26, 2024 events, as well as the release of “political prisoners”.
According to PTI’s ‘Charter of Demands’ a copy of which is available with WE News English, if the government fails to constitute two separate commissions on the violent events, the party will not continue the negotiations.
