Pervez Khattak sees no ‘positive outcome’ of PTI government talks on election date

• Pervez Khattak says talks will not yield positive results in the future.
• Ex-KP CM adds that PTI had not opposed the establishment of the full court.
• “The government employs delaying tactics because rulers are not interested in polls.”

NOWSHERA: Imran Khan’s close aide and former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chief minister Pervez Khattak has said that the ongoing negotiations between Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the coalition government over the timetable of the upcoming elections “will yield no results” . positive outcome”.

“The talks were unsuccessful in the past and would not yield positive results in the future as the rulers have bad intentions and are buying time,” the senior PTI leader said in a conversation with Geo news in Nowshera.

Khattak said he is not optimistic about the negotiations between both sides, adding that it is just a waste of time if the rulers’ intentions are questionable and they break the promises and tell lies.

The PTI leader, who also remained Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s chief minister for five years, said the government must first dissolve the assemblies to clear the way for general elections on the same day. He said the government is using delaying tactics as the rulers are not interested in elections.

“Our case on the Punjab elections is in the Supreme Court, while the petition related to polling in KP was in the Peshawar High Court, which will be decided shortly,” said Khattak, adding that the sitting rulers running for the election.

Speaking of the stalemate between parliament and the higher judiciary, he said the rulers had lost their wisdom and the country was heading for destruction and anarchy.

Khattak also said disrespecting the judges was not humanity but the law of the jungle, adding that the courts would not meet the demands of the PDM.

He said they had not opposed the composition of the full court and the handling of cases related to elections and constitutional matters, but added that it was the discretion of the Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial to allow banks and allocate cases to the relevant banks.

“The coalition government is using different tactics to avoid going to the polls,” said the PTI leader, adding that the rulers believed the PTI could be banned and Imran Khan disqualified, which would not happen.

He said that the deposed prime minister is becoming more popular every day and people are joining the PTI.

Government-PTI negotiations

The negotiations, which took place in five formal and informal rounds, aimed to reach a consensus on an election date. However, despite agreeing to hold elections on the same date, the negotiating parties failed to reach a consensus on the date and filed separate reports with the apex court.

On May 3, the Imran Khan-led PTI submitted its report to the Supreme Court on negotiations with the Pakistan Democratic Movement-led government, requesting that its ruling of April 4 be implemented on holding elections for the Punjab Assembly on May 14.

In the report, the PTI – the main opposition party – updated the court on the progress of the negotiations and said it had held three rounds of talks with the team of ruling PDM, an alliance of 13 political parties, in line with the commitment to the top court in the Punjab election postponement case.

At the recent hearing on May 5, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also informed the Supreme Court that the ruling alliance “believes that political issues are best resolved through dialogue and is ready to resume it” in the “greater national interest”.

The government made the assurance in its four-page statement submitted to the court. Dar submitted the statement on behalf of the government.

Chief Justice (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial had warned that if talks between the government and the PTI failed, the Supreme Court would use the constitution to carry out its verdict of holding elections in Punjab on May 14.