Ayaz calls govt-PTI teams' meeting on 16th

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq Monday convened a meeting of the government and PTI negotiating teams for the third round of talks at the Parliament House on January 16.

The in-camera meeting will be held at 11:30am with Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in the chair, a statement issued by the National Assembly Secretariat said. The speaker had earlier called a meeting for January 15 at 1.30pm. However, sources said the date was changed on the PTI leadership’s request.

In a statement on Sunday, the spokesman for the speaker had said that a forum had been provided to the members and the speaker wanted the dialogues to be successful. “The speaker believes in resolving issues through dialogue with understanding and always talks about respecting each other,” the spokesperson said, adding that Sadiq was still facilitating the dialogue with sincerity.

The spokesman for the government committee Senator Irfan Siddiqui said the PTI member Omar Ayub had presented a detailed perspective during the meeting. He also said the PTI delegation had demanded the release of party leader Imran Khan, along with other leaders and workers.

Siddiqui further mentioned that Imran Khan had instructed that the negotiations should continue, and that the PTI would present its formal charter of demands in the next meeting.