Minister says coalition government will not accept conditional dialogue offer
LAHORE
The government on Saturday responded to Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s offer of talks and said that threats and dialogue cannot go together.
After a party meeting in Lahore, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique, PML-N leader Malik Ahmad Khan and Attaullah Tarar spoke to the media at the party secretariat in Model Town.
The minister for railways said the PTI chief talked about conditional negotiations and then threatened to dissolve the assemblies, adding that threats, abuse, and negotiations cannot go together.
The minister furthered that the current federal government is a coalition set-up and any decision will be taken after consultation with other allies.
Rafique added that the coalition government will not accept a conditional dialogue offer and also said that government allies have serious reservations about negotiating with PTI and giving them an opportunity for face-saving.
The senior PML-N leader added that general elections will be held on time and the incumbent government is “not afraid of elections”. He further said that assemblies are made to legislate and are not meant to be destroyed.
Rafique maintained that the country needs political stability for economic recovery.
The railways minister added that in 2018, despite rigging, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif had presented a charter of economy and that Imran and his colleagues did not take it seriously and mocked it. However, the PML-N still cooperated with the government in the legislation.
The minister reiterated that the PTI chief’s government ended with constitutional and democratic change, adding that after being ousted, all the conspiracies of Imran and his facilitators have continued to fail.
The interior minister also spoke during the press briefing and said “politicians never refuse to negotiate”.
“He [Imran] is the only politician who was imposed on the country who did not shake hands with the opposition for the entirety of four years,” the minister added.
Sanaullah maintained that the deposed prime minister tried to force an election date by threatening the establishment but failed.
“He [Imran] kept asking for an election date from the third force but did not get it because they have become apolitical,” the minister said.
The response by PML-N leaders comes a day after the former prime minister softened his stance on possible talks with the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leaders and appeared to be striking a conciliatory tone as he signaled his openness to “sit and talk and give a date for the general elections”.
However, while making the offer he also threatened to “dissolve assemblies”.
The offer for talks to the government appeared to mark a departure from the hardline stance he took during his mammoth November 26 Rawalpindi rally.
