PTI solely responsible for talks hitting snags: Sanaullah

ISLAMABAD,JAN 24 (DNA):Prime Minister’s Advisor on Public and Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah said on Friday that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is solely responsible for ending the dialogue process and the government had no role in it.

“The government cannot be held responsible. We entered the dialogue and still want to continue, but there is a way of holding talks. It has always been that one of the parties gives their charter of demands and the other responds to it. The issues are then framed and discussed,” the former federal minister said while speaking in media.

Sanaullah said that the government had asked PTI to give it seven working days to respond to their demands, which means till January 28.

He said that the government’s negotiation committee expected another meeting on the said date and was planning to present its response, but it seemed like PTI felt that they had “made a mistake” by entering the process of talks with the government.

“They [PTI] desperately wanted to exit the talks through whatever excuse they can make and now they have escaped even before the completion of the timeframe that they themselves had agreed upon. So the responsibility is theirs,” the former security czar said.

When asked whether the government was flexible enough to convince the PTI founder in a direct meeting with a high-level government official, for the sake of dialogue, Sanaullah said that the govt was willing to hold the dialogue but not to win over anyone or to follow anyone’s orders.

He said that democracy progressed with dialogue instead of deadlock.

He expressed confidence that the issues between the opposition and the PML-N government would get resolved only when the political parties came together on a table.

He said that the PTI didn’t allow the resolution of this issue while staying in the government for four years either and was trying the same again.

If they keep trying the same, they may become irrelevant themselves but the issue could never be resolved like this, he said.

The PM’s aide ruled out any possibility that PTI ended the dialogue due to the “restoration” of their long-desired “direct channel” in the wake of “another window” open simultaneously for the Imran Khan-founded party.

Sanaullah said that the government had made sure that there was “no other window”.

“Any dialogue, discussion, settlement or agreement on political issues is supposed to take place between the political forces only, or the opposition and the government. Those they [PTI] are looking up to won’t have any discussion on any political agenda, as it has been clarified earlier. If they [PTI] still have any kind of confusion, it will be cleared in the coming days,” Sanaullah added.

He further stated that the government did not want agitation but it would not allow the PTI to march on Islamabad in protest again. “They [PTI] have accepted Parliament after the general elections and claimed the opposition benches. They want to be in the parliament, enjoy the privileges and protest all at the same time,” he concluded.