Information Minister Attaullah Tarar has said that negotiations with the Jamaat-e-Islami over their ongoing protest, which has entered its 13th day today, have have witnessed positive progress with both sides set to hold fourth round of talks.
Refusing to give any details of the talks citing its confidentiality, the minister has said that so far negotiations have been good and positive progress has been made.
Tarar’s remarks come as the Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman-led party has been staging a sit-in in Rawalpindi for around two weeks, calling on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government to revise tax rates, review agreements with independent power producers (IPPs), and slash electricity and fuel prices to provide relief to the inflation-hit masses.
Since the start of the protest, the government has held three rounds of talks with the JI delegation led by senior leader Liaquat Baloch — however, no significant breakthrough has been announced by either side so far.
The fourth round of talks slated for today comes as JI chief Hafiz Naeem, while speaking to the protesters on Rawalpindi’s Murree Road on Monday, warned of shutting the country if their demands are not met.
“Are you ready to barge into the Prime Minister’s House?” he said, warning the government to “take notice,” otherwise, the Jamaat will give the call for a march on the federal capital, the politician had said.
Meanwhile, the party has also announced initiating the second phase of its protest movement with the JI emir, saying that the sit-in would move forward from Murree Road, Liaquat Bagh on Thursday, The News reported.
Last week, PM Shehbaz, while commenting on the outcry over sky-high electricity prices, said that the coalition government’s agenda to reduce electricity bills, stressing that it should not be politicised as protests continue in different parts of the country against the high cost of power.
“We do not believe in politics for the sake of politics,” the prime minister said during a cabinet meeting in Islamabad on Friday.
