Coalition govt, PTI hold second round of talks for same-day polls

Islamabad: The final round of negotiations between the government and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on holding elections on the same day throughout the country started on Tuesday night.

 The last round of talks between the two sides was supposed to take place at 11 am today, but due to a change in schedule, it started at 9 pm.

After the consent of both parties, the time of negotiations was changed due to the busy schedule of members. The final round of negotiations held at the Senate Secretariat.

After consulting with their leadership, delegations from the PTI and the ruling coalition represented their respective proposals to each other through negotiations and reach a final decision through the process.

From the government's side, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique and Yousuf Raza Gilani and Syed Naveed Qamar from the Pakistan People's Party  while Fazlur Rehman's party had no representative in the government's negotiating team.

From the side of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, former Federal Minister of Information Fawad Chaudhry, and renowned lawyer Senator Ali Zafar are negotiating with the government.

Prior to the start of the negotiations, a dinner was hosted by Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani in honor of the negotiation teams of the government and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. On this occasion, the Senate Chairman gave suggestions to both teams to resolve the issues through dialogue.

According to sources, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani said that political tensions are not in the interest of the country and the nation. Ending political tensions will end economic stagnation, and all political parties should put aside their differences and unite in the national interest.

The negotiation team of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had a meeting with Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, where they exchanged views on the country's overall political situation. The Senate Chairman reiterated his suggestion to resolve political tensions through dialogue.

Speaking to the media in Parliament House, Vice Chairman of the PTI, Shah Mahmood Qureshi said, "In today's negotiations, you will find out what our conditions are. We did not tell the media beforehand what we were going to discuss with the government team."

It is worth noting that the Pakistan Democratic Movement wants the government to stay in power until the presentation of the budget, while the PTI wishes to end the government's tenure by May 14th. Regarding this matter, Chairman of the PTI, Imran Khan, also stated that the party is ready for elections if the National Assembly is dissolved by May 14th.