PML-N Punjab President Rana Sanaullah stressed the need for “seriousness” from the PTI on holding a political dialogue, highlighting its conflicting statements.
Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Geo Pakistan’, Sanaullah, who was recently appointed as the adviser to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on political affairs, said the solution to current political and economic crises was that all political parties “sit together”.
When asked if the PML-N had plans to form a committee for talks with other political parties, specifically the PTI, Sanaullah replied: “Absolutely, we as a political party and as a [political] worker, think that right now, the solution to the political situation faced by the country is that dialogue is held.”
Recalling ex-premier Nawaz Sharif’s homecoming speech in October, he said the PML-N supremo had given a similar message back then that the solution to the political crises was that “everyone — meaning all political parties and also all institutions — sit together and steer the country out of this quagmire”.
Sanaullah emphasised, “We think that unless all sit together, we may not fully succeed in solving the political instability and economic challenges.”The political adviser added that conversations with Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman in that regard had taken place before and would also continue in the future.
On the PTI’s willingness for talks, he said: “One day, they give a statement in this favour (of talks) and the next day, another leader says otherwise. If there is a display of seriousness from there, then absolutely, this dialogue should take place between political parties.
Sanaullah’s call for dialogue comes after last week, in a Senate session, PPP Senator Sherry Rehman and PML-N’s Irfan Siddiqui had struck a reconciliatory tone with the opposition while PTI’s Ali Zafar lamented the “political victimisation” of his party.
Earlier this week, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, while commenting on his party’s willingness to negotiate with the quarters concerned, maintained that as far as a dialogue was concerned, it should be held “with everyone”.
On the plan of the JUI-F chief to launch a protest movement starting today, Sanaullah said the former coalition ally should not be dealt with “strictly”.
