PTI’s negotiation team to meet Imran Khan today

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) negotiation committee has granted permission to meet imprisoned party founder Imran Khan in Adiala Jail after the first round of talks with the government on Monday.

Sources told Daily Ausaf that the committee comprising senior party leaders will visit Imran Khan in the facility at 2 pm today (Thursday).

The development came after the former ruling party landed in discussion with the committee comprising members of the ruling coalition to defuse the growing political tension between the government and the opposition party.

Earlier on Wednesday, government officials confirmed that the government’s negotiation panel had accepted the PTI’s demand to consult former prime minister Imran Khan.

PTI’s negotiation team will brief Khan on the first round of dialogue with the government, held on Monday, and consult him on future strategy.

The next round of talks will held on January 2, when the PTI will present its demands before the government panel in writing. The committee has already presented the two-point agenda; the release of PTI’s political prisoners and judicial inquiry into the events of the May 9 and the November 24 protests.

The former ruling party was represented by former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza, and Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen Allama Raja Nasir Abbas.

The high-level government committee includes Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Prime Minister’s advisor Rana Sanaullah Khan, Senator Irfan Siddiqui, PPP’s Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, and Syed Naveed Qamar, IPP leader Abdul Aleem Khan, MQM-P leader Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, and Dr Farooq Sattar.

Other committee members are Religious Affairs Minister Chaudhry Salik Hussain and Balochistan Awami Party’s Sardar Khalid Magsi.