Polls to be held on Oct 13, 2023: Ahsan Iqbal

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday, while responding to PTI leader Pervaiz Khattak’s tweet, said that elections would be held on Oct 13, 2023.

Talking to a private TV channel separately, he said that doors are open for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan to hold talks with the incumbent government through President Dr Arif Alvi.

The minister stated the government was ready for talks with the PTI if the president played a role. He added that President Alvi has a constitutional position and should be active again. Alluding to the establishment, Iqbal further said that it was “not a good tradition” to involve non-political organisations in politics. He maintained that the doors for talks were open if Imran wanted to have discussions while staying within the bounds of democracy.

He revealed that some members of the PTI had allegedly contacted and spoken to the coalition government but had expressed their reservations about the talks, claiming that the PTI chief did not listen to them either.

On the other hand, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said that President Arif Alvi has the mandate for negotiations and that negotiations would be conducted in his presence. He emphasised, however, that the only negotiations the PTI was willing to participate in would be about the elections. 

He asked the federal government to show its willingness for holding elections, adding that there was no contention if they gave a specific date and framework for the elections. 

Last week, a source in the Prime Minister’s Office denied reports that a federal-level committee had been formed to negotiate with the PTI, clarifying that its main purpose was to assess the prevailing political situation and do collective decision-making on matters pertaining to the former ruling party’s long march. 

The same was also confirmed by senior PMLN leader Pervaiz Rashid. However, one of the members of the 13-member committee only partially agreed with this assertion, saying that as of now there was no other committee formed to engage with the former ruling party and till another committee was formed — if need be — this would be the panel for negotiation with PTI leaders.