Simultaneous negotiations not possible, says PML-N’s Siddiqui on alleged PTI-military meet – Pakistan

PML-N Senator Irfan Siddiqui said on Saturday that “two to three doors” could not be engaged in negotiations at the same time, in a rebuke to the PTI for claiming to engage the military in talks amid ongoing negotiations with the government.

The PTI and the government are currently engaged in talks to bring down political temperatures. After two rounds of meetings, the third round was held on Thursday in which the PTI formally presented its demands in writing.

The same day, the issue of a meeting between Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir and PTI leaders Ali Amin Gandapur and Barrister Gohar Ali Khan came under intense scrutiny but the agenda of the rendezvous remained shrouded in mystery, amid conflicting claims from both sides.

Initially, the interim PTI chairman had denied a meeting took place, but on Thursday, he confirmed a meeting with the army chief, where he claimed to have “received a positive response”. A statement attributed to security sources, however, denied any political aspect of the gathering, saying the contents of the meeting were being reported out of context.

It is understood that the meeting took place during the army chief’s recent trip to Peshawar, where he also met other political leaders from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The meeting was also confirmed by former prime minister Imran Khan, who is incarcerated in Adiala jail, saying if talks had started between the two sides, then it was indeed a step in the right direction.

In a post on X today, Siddiqui seemingly criticised the development, claiming to know all about the “details and conversations of Barrister Ali Gohar’s ‘meeting’ with the army chief”.

He said that if the PTI leadership truly considered it to be a positive development and thought it could continue talks through both the “backdoor and front door” process, then Siddiqui said negotiations through “two to three doors” could not continue at the same time.

The PML-N senator said if the party had really engaged the military in talks then it should tell its negotiating team for the talks with the government to abandon the effort since there was no point to it.

Senior PPP leader Khursheed Shah has raised concerns about the meeting as well.

In an interview on DawnNewsTV programme ‘Doosra Rukh’ a day ago, he had said, “The army chief is the country’s supreme commander. There is no need to hide meetings with him.

“If they (the PTI) are hiding that they met him, then something is not ringing true.”

He had added that “if they’ve had a meeting, it should be made public.”

Shah had called the situation “upsetting”. In response to a question about how the meeting would affect the ongoing negotiations, Shah refused to comment.

“You do not approach the army chief with political demands,” Shah said. However, the PPP leader explained that the party was not against the PTI “meeting with anyone”.

“Whether anyone sees it as good or bad does not matter,” he said. “We (the PPP) are not against dialogue, parties are free to meet with anyone. If dialogue can happen between warring countries, then it can happen between enemies within the same country.”

Shah had said the country was in a bad state and its politics was very complicated. “We all need to come together to try and improve the state, whether it is the government or the opposition.”

He continued, “We believe that there are problems, but Pakistan’s politics will only be successful if all of our politicians come together and understand both the country’s politics and the issues Muslims face on the international stage. We are not doing that, we are stuck in our own problems.”

Shah had also said that the vote of no confidence that ousted Imran in 2022 was “not right” and that the PTI should have been allowed to complete its tenure in government.

The PPP leader noted that many of the problems being faced today stemmed from the PTI’s term in office.

“I am not levelling allegations, this is the truth — the issues we face today were set in motion during the three-and-a-half-year tenure of Imran Khan,” Shah stated. “We met with the government in parliament frequently during that time to find a solution for the economy.

“We engage in politics for the people, not for ourselves,” the PPP leader continued, adding that Imran was unable to keep his promises and his government “engaged a reverse gear” on the economy, which “is still going backwards”.

The PPP leader also criticised the PTI for not accepting the consequences of siding with the establishment. “They did it, they should deal with the consequences. Why did they choose to side with them?” he asked.

Speaking about the 2022 vote, Shah said he was not in favour of it even today. “He should have been allowed to complete his term,” Shah said, referring to Imran.

“We should have let him run, he would not have been able to win four seats.”

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