The government has turned down opposition leader Mehmood Achakzai’s demand for a neutral location for his meeting with the prime minister. Any Mehmood Achakzai meeting with the premier, officials say, will take place at the Prime Minister House and nowhere else.
Adviser to the Prime Minister Rana Sanaullah made the position clear in a statement. He said no third venue can be fixed for the opposition leader and the prime minister to sit together.
Sanaullah said the Prime Minister House is not anyone’s personal property. It belongs to the state, he added.
He noted that similar insistence had been shown in the past, and called it an unacceptable way of doing things. The prime minister, he said, will meet the opposition leader at the Prime Minister House.
The adviser also spoke about the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and commission members. According to him, the prime minister wrote two letters to the opposition leader on the matter.
One letter went out before the prime minister left for the United States, and the second was sent after his return. The government is still waiting for a reply.
Sanaullah asked the opposition leader to say when he plans to visit the prime minister. The government, he said, is ready to welcome him.
Turning to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Sanaullah said unconditional talks with the party are possible. However, negotiations cannot go ahead if the party makes the withdrawal of the emergency a precondition.
He said PTI never gave the earlier talks a real chance. The setup created under the emergency, he added, will be given appropriate time.
Sanaullah also said the government will fight the war on terrorism with full commitment and win it. A dialogue with PTI could happen, he said, if the party cooperates in that fight.