Talks representatives of the ruling alliance and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf were postponed till Friday after the government team asked for time to consult their allied parties.

The talks got underway on Thursday in the parliament building in committee room number three. The parties will meet again at the same spot on Friday at 3pm. Both groups have exchanged an initial set of demands and will provide a full list in writing tomorrow. Sources said that the talks progressed in a ‘cheerful’ atmosphere.

The government is represented by Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s Ishaq Dar, Azam Nazeer and Khawaja Saad Rafique as well as Pakistan Peoples Party’s Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani and Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Kishwar Zehra.

The PTI team consists of Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Barrister Ali Zafar and Fawad Chaudhry.

PTI’s demands

Reports have claimed that the PTI is pressing to get a date for the dissolution of National Assembly from the government.

Sources said PTI asked for its members to be reinstated to the National Assembly where they would be able to take part in a constitutional amendment to delay elections beyond 90 days. Since amendments to the constitution need a 2/3 majority, having PTI members in the house is the only way to go, PTI said. The party also wants to get back in control of the opposition leader’s seat.

The PTI has also asked for a deadline for the assembly’s dissolution and asked that ‘impartial’ caretaker governments and Election Commission be placed.

According to sources, Chairman Imran Khan spoke to the PTI team before negotiations began and told them to press for dissolution of the assembly no later than July.

The PTI team is prepared for simultaneous elections only if they are tied with dissolution by the desired date.

The party will present a full list of demands tomorrow.

Government’s viewpoint

Sources said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar stressed that the current assembly must pass the next budget. He reportedly said that a caretaker government could would not be able to handle a budget in the current economic situation.

When the assembly dissolves after the passage of the budget, elections could be held in October or November, the government team said.

MQM’s Kishwar Zehra said that elections should be held as per new delimitations based on the latest census.

The government team also reportedly made it clear that it was unwilling for elections in Punjab to take place on May 14.

How did the talks come about?

The government had approached Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani to play his part in setting up talks with the PTI on Wednesday. Sanjrani had proposed committees made up of five senators from each party and also offered parliament as the venue of the talks.

The ruling alliance itself has been divided over the subject of talks, with Jamiat-e-Ulema’s Maulana Fazal ur Rehman taking a particularly har line against any talks with PTI, a viewpoint that he reiterated in a press conference on Thursday just before talks were about to begin.

Fazal, who heads the Pakistan Democratic Movement that dominates the government, has repeatedly said that he does not consider Imran Khan to be a legitimate political force worth engaging with.

However, others in the government, particularly PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto, have favoured dialogue and have called it the only real way out of the political impasse.