(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has given his key ministers the go-ahead to resume talks with Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) of firebrand opposition cleric Tahir ul Qadri but not with Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik Insaf (PTI).
Sources here say the nod was given at a high-level meeting of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) at the Prime Minister's House before the weekend. The meeting also finalised plans to recover losses inflicted by the protest sit-ins of the PTI and PAT in the capital, sources said.
Interior Minister Nisar Ali, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid and Minister for States and Frontier Regions Qadir Baloch attended the meeting which was convened to discuss the prevailing political situation in the country.
Sharing details of the meeting, sources said that the team of PML-N's core ministers agreed to immediately restart negotiations with PAT to wind up its protest sit-in in Islamabad.
The government, they said, is set to resume talks with PAT shortly and will pick up from where negotiations had collapsed before Eid Al Adha. Iqbal will lead the negotiating team while PAT negotiators will be led by the party's General Secretary Khurram Gandapur.
According to sources, talks between the government and PAT had hit deadlock over the demand for quashment of 11 cases against Qadri.
Currently there are over 40 cases lodged against Qadri, of which 11 deal with serious offences such as the killing and torture of police personnel and attacks on state institutions.
This time, however, talks will begin with a broader spirit to end PAT's protest as soon as possible, sources said.
On the other hand, participants of the meeting decided against resuming talks with PTI believing that its protest would soon fizzle out.
According to sources, Ali predicted the PTI would exhaust its support in less than 100 days.
Iqbal confirmed the decision to resume talks with PAT and said that he was hopeful the party would end its sit-in before its weekend gathering in Lahore.
"There are just a few unresolved issues with PAT. These will hopefully be resolved soon," he added.
Asked about talks with the PTI, Iqbal said their sit-in was 'almost over' and had devolved to just a 'musical function'.
He added that the PTI was also unwilling to talk with the government as it was holding public gatherings across the country.
During the meeting, the prime minister also decided to send a high-level delegation to China on October 21 to make arrangements for his own visit to the country in the first week of November.
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