ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) called on the government on Saturday to break the deadlock in the talks with the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), saying that there had been a respite in terrorist attacks since initiation of the dialogue.

“The PTI reiterates its support for dialogue and wants the government to break the current deadlock,” Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the party’s vice chairman, said. He termed the resumption of talks as “the only way towards peace”.

Talking to Dawn after attending a PTI core committee meeting at the Bani Gala residence of party chief Imran Khan, Mr Qureshi said that Rustam Shah Mohmand – the party’s representative in the government committee holding talks with the Taliban – had briefed the members on the progress made so far.

However, at the press briefing following the meeting, Mr Khan focused on the ongoing tug-of-war between the PTI and a TV channel and did not talk about much else.

He accused Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of turning parliament into a ‘dummy’ institution by not attending National Assembly sessions. “Parliament has no value if the chief executive does not come there. The parliament is becoming a dummy,” Mr Khan said when asked why he had not raised the issues in parliament.

Implying that parliament had lost its importance, he said that under Pervez Musharraf and Asif Ali Zardari, prime ministers Shaukat Aziz and Yousuf Raza Gilani would come to the house, but at that time power was centred with the president.

Mr Khan reiterated his demands for a vote recount in four National Assembly constituencies and resignation of all members of the Election Commission. He said there was no use of holding fresh elections without first holding accountable those who, according to him, had rigged last year’s polls.

In a handout issued later, PTI information secretary Dr Shireen Mazari reiterated the party’s position that “peace can only come through dialogue and never through a military operation, as our history has shown”.

She said the talks had already shown positive results and led to a marked decrease in attacks by the TTP. The people of tribal areas had also asserted their support for peace through dialogue, she added.

She said Mr Mohmand had briefed the party’s leaders on the talks and their current status. The PTI, she said, urged the government to break any deadlock that might prevail.

According to a PTI spokesperson, the committee finalised arrangements for the party’s public meeting scheduled for May 25 in Faisalabad and also put together a plan to hold protest demonstrations outside the ECP offices every Friday.

During the news conference, Mr Khan lashed out at Geo TV management for allegedly running a character-assassination campaign against him. He appealed to the people to boycott the channel, accusing it of toeing ‘foreign agenda’ and compromising on national issues.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2014