Government and PTI open talks in Islamabad ahead of Oct 4 long march

Negotiations between the government and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) began on Friday at the National Assembly speaker’s chamber in Islamabad, two days before the party’s planned long march on the federal capital on October 4, Geo News reports.

The six-member opposition delegation is led by PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, with Asad Qaiser, Salman Akram Raja, Amir Dogar and Haleem Adil Sheikh. The government side includes Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, PM’s Adviser Rana Sanaullah, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry and PPP’s Sherry Rehman. Naqvi briefed the meeting on the law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The PTI reconstituted its team after Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayin-e-Pakistan chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai refused to attend at the speaker’s chamber, saying he would only take part at a neutral location — a demand the party rejected.

The talks follow Gohar’s statement on Thursday that the party had accepted the government’s offer. The march, postponed from September 27, seeks the release of the jailed Imran Khan and what the party calls the restoration of constitutional supremacy.

Speaking at Parliament House on Friday, Sanaullah urged the PTI to drop the march call, saying “long marches and disorder were not a solution to any problem” and that “matters that are before the courts have to be decided by the courts”. He said Khan, held at Adiala jail, had been moved to hospital for a check-up by senior doctors, and that the government would comply with any further court directions.