PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has once again offered negotiations to the government while rejecting reports that its long march was postponed due to “backchannel con-tacts”.
In a statement, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja said the party had postponed the long march to give the government more time to reconsider its decisions. However, he said the government had so far given no signal that it was willing to hold negotiations.
The remarks come days after PTI announced that its long march towards Islamabad, originally scheduled for September 27, had been postponed to October 4.
The former ruling party was preparing for a major protest and march on Islamabad, de-manding the release of its jailed founder Imran Khan and the “restoration” of constitu-tional supremacy.
The government has publicly taken a firm position against road blockades and disrup-tion of routine life, while extraordinary security measures were put in place ahead of the original September 27 date.
Raja said the latest wave of terrorism required all sides to sit together and engage in dia-logue. He added that if any contact took place, it was not necessary for it to become public immediately.
Sources had told The News that more than half a dozen backchannel meetings between PTI and the authorities over the past four to five weeks had failed to break the deadlock over the party’s proposed march towards Islamabad, although the contacts explored a possible political way out of the confrontation.
The sources said the key issue throughout these contacts was whether PTI would call off, rather than merely postpone, its planned mobilisation. According to the sources, the government and security establishment conveyed that political space could be created for PTI, but politics involving agitation, violence, road blockades and marches would not be acceptable.
Meanwhile, Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP) has endorsed the PTI’s October 4 protest call, with the opposition alliance announcing that it will participate in the activity alongside its allied parties.
A spokesperson for the TTAP said PTI was part of the opposition alliance and had now issued a call for October 4.
The spokesperson said the TTAP would participate fully in coordination with its allied parties.
The TTAP also held its meeting and stressed the need to broaden the opposition’s agen-da to address issues “affecting the entire country”.
Speaking about the meeting, Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas said the opposition alliance had previously called for turning its political narrative into a na-tional agenda.
He said the alliance had proposed including provincial rights and the issues facing Bal-ochistan and Sindh in the agenda.
“Our position was that the issues of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as the country’s eco-nomic and political affairs should also be included,” Abbas said.
He claimed that Punjab currently had more political prisoners than at any other point in Pakistan’s political history.
He stressed that these issues needed to be addressed, adding that if the opposition spoke collectively on behalf of the people, the wider public would support it.
“I am not disappointed. If such points are included, the rest of the opposition will also support them,” he said.
“Whether today or tomorrow, ultimately, we will have to move in this direction,” Abbas added. –Agencies
