Pakistan govt rejects former PM Imran Khan's offer for dialogue

Pakistans ruling coalition Peoples Democratic Alliance PDM Sunday rejected former prime minister Imran Khans offer for dialogue saying that talks were held with politicians and not terroristsThe government also stated that the Pakistan TehreekeInsaf PTI chief was now himself seeking a National Reconciliation Ordinance NRO reported the Express Tribune newspaperThe development came as Khan constituted a sevenmember team to hold talks with the government for developing consensus on a date for general elections amid a massive crackdown on his partyThe crackdown launched after May 9 violent protests have thrown the PTI into a deep existential crisis with dozens of key party leaders jumping ship every dayThe prominent leaders who have quit the party include Secretary General Asad Umar senior leader Fawad Chaudhry and former minister Shireen MazariOn May 9 violent protests erupted after paramilitary Rangers arrested Khan from the Islamabad High Court premises His party workers vandalised a dozen military installations including the Lahore Corps Commanders House the Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad in response to Khans arrestThe mob also stormed the Army headquarters GHQ in Rawalpindi for the first timeThousands of Khans supporters were arrested following the violence that the powerful Army described as a ldquodark dayrdquo in the history of the countryResponding to the talks offer the supreme leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz PMLN Nawaz Sharif took to Twitter to state that talks are held only with politicians There will be no talks with a group of terrorists and saboteurs who burn memorials of martyrs and set the country on fireiquest he saidIn a statement Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said ldquoThose who attack the state are punished they are not negotiated withAlso readMumbai Crime Man held for lsquodefamingrsquo woman constable BMC employeeShe claimed that Khans appeal for talks is an appeal for a National Reconciliation Ordinance NROWhen in power Khan often said former military ruler Pervez Musharraf ended criminal cases against the leaders of various parties including the PMLN and the Pakistan Peoples Party PPP through the NRO but that he would not give ldquolootersrdquo any NROMarriyum said holding talks with those who desecrated the memorials of martyrs is a desecration of martyrsShe said Khan wants talks after burning ambulances hospitals and schools and poisoning youths minds adding there will be no talks with himImran has called for talks when his party leaders have abandoned him in flocks he saidShe reminded Khan that he had not talked with the opposition on the economy Kashmir national security issues Covid19 and the FATF issue but he is now urging for talksDeclaring him a foreign agent and Toshakhana thief the information minister said negotiations are not held with the ones who allegedly looted Rs 60 billion as such a person is brought to the court of law and not to the negotiations tableMinister for Poverty Alleviation Shazia Marri who belongs to the PPP said Khan was responsible for the situation arising after May 9 She said talking about talks now was nothing but eyewashThe minister said mobs attacked Jinnah House in Lahore and the GHQ in Rawalpindi on the order of Khan ldquoHe keeps his children in the safety of London but incites the children of the nation to commit antistate actsrdquo she saidMarriyam recalled that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari the countrys foreign minister tried to bring political parties to the negotiating table and constituted a team consisting of senior leaders for negotiations with political parties ldquoImran however sabotaged Bilawals effortsrdquoShe said Khans arrogance led to his downfall regretting that the former prime minister did not allow the PTI to become a political partyTalking about negotiations after everything has been done is pretentiousrdquo she said With inputs from agencies