• Sources claim that the government approached a senator from the party for a meeting in Parliament House

• PTI parliamentary party to meet today to develop strategy

ISLAMABAD: Amidst reports of some possible backroom understanding between the opposition party and the powers that be, top PTI officials have stated that while they have always left their doors open for negotiations, there has not been any new development in this regard as yet.

On the other hand, some internal chatter in the WhatsApp group of the PTI’s parliamentary party indicates that the party has been given an offer by the government, meaning that the party could hold talks in Parliament House itself, where PM Shehbaz Sharif himself could attend and hear out their grievances.

In preparation for the meeting, the PTI is set to convene a meeting of its parliamentary party today (Monday), where recent developments and the possibility of making progress in negotiations will be discussed.

These reports have come despite speculations regarding some possible backroom understanding between the party and the powers that be, having reached boiling point. Some analysts have referred to the amount of media space that the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sohail Afridi, has been getting lately, as well as the increased activity amongst PTI activists on the ground.

An unnamed senior PTI official told Dawn that two days ago, one of the PTI senators had conveyed to fellow senators a call he got from MNA Tariq Fazal Chaudhry to have talks with the PM.

Ms Mashal Yousafzai told the parliamentary party that he had told her that he was sitting with the PM and Rana Sanaullah, and wanted to negotiate with the party.

According to Ms Mashal Yousafzai, he had told her that the location of the dialogue would be Constitution Room of the Parliament House, which will also be attended by the PM.

This is in line with a previous assertion made by the Senate Opposition Leader Raja Nasir Abbas, a die-hard PTI supporter, suggesting that the party desired to engage in talks with the government through a “neutral platform”, such as the Parliament House, rather than the PM Office.

“A senior leader was asking him about the reasons why Tariq Fazal had contacted Mashal Yousafzai when he had the contact numbers of Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Amir Dogar, Gohar Khan and others from the PTI ranks. But, Ms Yousafzai denied that she was approached and it was for real,” the PTI insider added.

“We are taking a strong stance. If the government is interested in dialogue, it will soon become clear. We are willing to dialogue with all sections of society, including political parties and others. If the ‘system’ wishes to have dialogue, it should make the first move,” he said.

“Any decision cannot be taken without the will and approval of the founder of the party, Imran Khan,” Mr Raja said, adding that the door of his party remained open for dialogue.

The information secretary of PTI, Sheikh Waqas Akram, told Dawn that technically PTI was not engaged in any dialogue with the government.

A request for comments from Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, was made by Dawn but it did not get a reply till the filing of this report.

“Now we have decided to arrange a meeting of our party members in parliament on Monday (today), where the whole issue will be sorted out. As the chief himself has authorized Mr Achakzai to conduct talks, he will also be consulted,” he further added.

But, PTI’s Secretary General Salman Akram Raja told Dawn that all these were just speculation.