(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and PTI vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi will lead their respective teams each comprising two members.
Islamabad: The Nawaz Sharif government and the Pakistan Tereek-i-Insaaf (PTI) are all set to formally resume on Saturday their stalled talks to resolve the current political impasse both sides hinted here after a preliminary contact.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and PTI vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi will lead their respective teams each comprising two members. The two sides will pick up the thread of dialogue from where it broke down over a month ago on one sticking point the terms of reference (ToRs) of the proposed judicial commission demanded by Imran Khan to probe the alleged massive rigging in last year’s general elections.
Federal Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal the second member on the government team on Thursday night informally met his counterpart Asad Umar of the PTI breaking the deadlock that had persisted ever since the two sides discontinued talks in September.
Ahsan later told reporters that the meeting was meant for both sides to reacquaint themselves with each other’s latest stance on key issues and set the parameters for future discussions in a bid to make the dialogue result-oriented. It was a good meeting and both sides agreed not to divulge details during the talks in order to avoid media controversies.
Umar said that this was a “warm-up session” before the talks formally get under way from Saturday. “We had a detailed discussion on our points of view in a very cordial atmosphere.”
He said that though Qureshi who will be leading the PTI’s team of negotiators was busy with party matters in Lahore “[the PTI] preferred to meet the government as the whole nation is eager to see both sides back on the negotiation table.”
The PTI however went ahead with plans to successfully shut down Karachi the country’s biggest city and economic hub on Friday. Roads and bazars wore a deserted look with scant traffic except the presence of groups of enthusiastic PTI male and female workers who raised anti-Sharif slogans and staged sit-in at 29 main arteries of the metropolis.
newskhaleejtimes.com
For more news from Khaleej Times follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes and on Twitter at khaleejtimes
Follow khaleejtimes ->
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.