Govt has 'off-the-record' contacts with PTI, says PM's aide

• Contacts take place by phone, during parliamentary sessions.
• Sanaullah says formal talks could eventually resume.
• He also urges opposition leader to meet prime minister.
  

Prime Minister’s Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah has said the government remains in “off-the-record” contact with some Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, but declined to identify them, saying disclosure could create problems for those involved.

Speaking on Geo News programme “Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath”, Sanaullah said contacts with some PTI figures continued from time to time over the telephone as well as during sessions of the National Assembly and Senate.

“We have off-the-record contacts with them, with those friends,” he said, adding that he would not disclose their names because doing so could create issues of credibility for them within their party.

The PM’s adviser said once discussions took a concrete shape, they could move towards formal, on-the-record negotiations.

Asked what was preventing the informal contacts from turning into formal talks, Sanaullah pointed to divisions within PTI over the negotiation process.

He said discussions had taken place in PTI meetings over the previous negotiation process being “sabotaged”, claiming that some of those who wanted the talks to succeed had faced trolling and pressure that prevented them from voicing their views.

Sanaullah said the appropriate first step towards reviving the stalled dialogue would be a meeting between the prime minister, as Leader of the House, and Leader of the Opposition Mahmood Khan Achakzai.

He rejected the opposition leader’s reluctance to meet the premier at the Prime Minister’s House, saying there was “no logic” behind such a position. He noted that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had himself approached the opposition leader’s seat whenever he had visited the House.

Sanaullah expressed hope that “sense will prevail” and the stalled negotiation process would resume, stressing that dialogue was ultimately the only way to resolve political disputes.

However, he said PTI had so far given the government no indication — either through informal contacts or formally — that it had changed its policy or approach.

He said discussions about such a change might be taking place within PTI meetings, but no one had approached the government to say that the party was ready to change course and resolve matters through a democratic process.

The PM’s adviser said the opposition leader should first meet the prime minister and PTI should return to parliamentary committees, which the party had boycotted despite continuing to sit in the House.

He said confidence in PTI’s intentions could develop once the discussions taking place within the party translated into a “clear method” of moving forward.