ISLAMABAD: In yet another bid to break the political deadlock, the government on Friday invited the opposition leader in National Assembly Mahmood Khan Achakzai, seeking talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on constitutional issues.
The overture comes amid an escalating political standoff over the recent imposition of emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), with the opposition Pakistan tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and its allies demanding a formal invitation and meaningful dialogue instead of what they sees political manoeuvring.
Talking to reporters, Rana Sanaullah, adviser to the prime minister on political affairs, said the government had written yet another letter to Achakzai, inviting him to meet the prime minister over a cup of tea and discuss the issues confronting the country.
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The PML-N stalwart dismissed the notion that ego or stubbornness was holding up the proposed meeting. Yet, the wrangling over who should visit whom and where the meeting should take place threatened to derail the very dialogue the government says it wants.
“This type of talks that come here or go there, it doesn’t change anything. What is the rationale of this,” he said, questioning the significance of the dispute over the venue when the two leaders could simply sit down and discuss matters requiring constitutional consideration.
Earlier, Achakzai, talking to reporters alongside PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and the PTI-backed opposition leader in Senate Raja Nasir Abbas, challenged the prime minister to translate talk of negotiations into a concrete invitation.
Offering Sharif a choice, Achakzai said the prime minister could dispense with formalities and join him for tea at his office or invite him for substantive talks at any neutral venue of his choosing, a proposal he said he had already made.
“I will certainly meet him if we realise that he [prime minister] is serious about holding talks with the opposition at a neutral venue and extends a serious invitation,” he said.
But the conciliatory offer came with a pointed rebuke over the government’s handling of previous rounds of talks.
Achakzai said those engagements had produced little beyond ridicule and empty gestures, casting doubt on the government’s professed willingness to engage the opposition meaningfully.
“Talks cannot take place like this,” he said, accusing the government of making a mockery of JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the PTI and the Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Aain-e-Pakistan (TTAP) during talks held ahead of the imposition of emergency and governor’s rule in KP on October 11.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026