LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday decided to continue negotiations with the government over holding elections across the country on the same day.

According to sources, PTI Chairman Imran Khan presided over a meeting of the party’s senior leaders, which was attended by Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Fawad Chaudhry, Shibli Faraz, Senator Azam Swati, Ijaz Chaudhry, Hammad Azhar, Mahmood Khan and others.

During the meeting, the former prime minister was given a detailed briefing on the dialogue with the government, while various proposals and future courses of action also came under discussion. The meeting also strongly condemned the late-night raid at the residence of party president and former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi.

The sources said that the leadership present in the meeting opined that the police operation could be a conspiracy to abruptly end the talks with the government.

The participants believed that if the party called off the dialogue, the government might get an opportunity to fight their case for delaying the elections in the Supreme Court. The leader also suggested that the talks with the government should not linger on for too long; if their proposal is not accepted then the dialogue can be called off. However, the leaders expressed their opinion that the talks with the government should continue.

While talking to the media, PTI Central Punjab General Secretary Hammad Azhar confirmed that the negotiations with the government would continue and added that no one opposed it in the meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023