ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) blasted the government on Tuesday for “scuttling” the talks, claiming it had joined the dialogue process with good intentions to help steer the country out of the prevalent political crisis.

The PTI skipped the fourth round of talks with the government on the directives of jailed party founding chairman Imran Khan, as he termed the talks with the ruling coalition an exercise in futility after it showed reluctance to form judicial commissions to investigate the events of May 9, 2023, and November 26, 2024.

In a statement issued here, the PTI spokesman Sheikh Waqas Akram accused the government of derailing the negotiation process – a claim which the government insists took place solely due to PTI as it ran away from the talks.

Akram said that PTI presented its two major demands in writing before the government’s committee but it failed to reciprocate despite a week-long deadline, forcing the PTI to quit the talks.

He emphasized that despite the government's illegitimate seizure of power, PTI was willing to engage in talks, adding that the government showed no interest in making the dialogue meaningful through the formation of the judicial commissions.

“The government intentionally sabotaged the dialogue process by re-launching “shameful figures” like Khawar Maneka who is once again out with the most stupid Iddat case,” he regretted.

He accused the government of undermining the negotiation process through raids on the residence and seminary of Sahibzada Hamid Raza, the spokesperson for PTI's negotiating committee.

“PTI attended the previous three rounds of talks despite all these shameful developments and presented its two demands, i.e. setting up high-powered judicial commissions to probe into the May 9 false flag operation and the Islamabad massacre,” he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025