Govt, opposition ‘may establish’ backchannel contact this week

ISLAMABAD, FEB 3 (DNA): Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan finds dialogue the only way to resolve political conflicts as he is seeking efforts for restoration of talks with the government.

Speaking to media on Sunday, the PTI leader said adopting a soft tone was a nice thing to make an attempt to generate outcomes, however in their case it was not working.

“At present, the doors of negotiations are closed and the other party has terminated them [the talks]. Despite this, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq has maintained the committee. Nevertheless, the government has not sent us any message, not even a WhatsApp message,” he said.

Meanwhile, it emerged that the opposition party leader is likely to meet Sadiq at Parliament House on February 4 during a meeting of the NA Standing Committee on Human Rights.

Gohar said NA speaker was not a member of the human rights committee, but a meeting was likely to take place with him in the Parliament House.

According to him, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur would attend and speak at the Swabi rally being held to observe February 8 as the “black day”. “I will be attending the public gathering myself,” he maintained.

Whereas, he expressed doubt over getting permission for a PTI demonstration on February 8 at the Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore. However, he said, PTI’s Aliya Hamza Malik had said that she hoped to get a no objection certification (NOC) for it.

As per political insiders, the establishment of the backchannel between the government and opposition committees was expected this week, following which there might be a chance for the dialogue to resume.

Sources insisted that the open comments and questions about the negotiations led to confusion instead of creating an atmosphere of success and that’s why both sides were considering adopting the path of “silent” communication.

“After that, when there is a result, then everything should be explained in front of the public,” they said.

Sources said that if the experiment of the new backchannel was successful, then there might be no need for any other backdoor contacts.

Meanwhile, the PTI will seek permission from its founding chairman for participation in an all-party conference (APC) on the Kashmir issue to be held in Islamabad on February 5 by the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid. Barrister Gohar said that he had not yet received an invitation to participate in the conference.

On the flip side, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja promised the party would not hold any protests during the Champions Trophy — the mega sporting event starting in Pakistan on February 19.

However, he said the party would go ahead with its February 8 rally in Swabi and reach out to all the democratic forces to form an alliance, barring the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Speaking in a private TV channel talk show, he rejected speculations and maintained that the PTI would neither disrupt the Champions Trophy, nor it had any such intentions.

He maintained that the people were not ready to accept the government.

The PTI secretary general said they tried to move towards the truth and demanded the formation of a judicial commission on the May 9, 2023 and November 26, 2024 events. However, he added, the rulers had no desire to “move towards the truth in the current system”.

Raja said his party would continue to raise voice, adding that “they (rulers) want to suppress our voice through coercion”.