News Desk :For the second time since it mobilised thousands of supporters for anti-government protests in Islamabad, tensions appeared to be easing on Friday as the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) prepared to initiate talks with the government.Following a meeting of the PTI’s core committee yesterday, senior leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters in Islamabad that his party was now ready to engage in negotiations with the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) led government. PTI senior leader Arif Alvi indicated that the two sides are expected to sit for talks sometime later on Friday nighet.Qureshi said that the government had already started removing containers in Islamabad, while an FIR has also been registered against culprits who earlier attacked his Multan residence. He said that he will soon contact Governor Punjab Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar to further play his part in facilitating the talks with the government.The developments Friday came shortly after all 34 PTI lawmakers submitted their resignations from the National Assembly.The party, which leads the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has been engaged in protests and sit-ins against the Nawaz government over alleged rigging in the 2013 general elections.The PTI is demanding electoral reforms and a change in the election commission, and the resignation of the prime minister.Following the party’s core committee meeting, television channels quoted PTI leader Naeemul Haq as saying that it was possible that the prime minister could depart on a long leave until a probe into electoral rigging is completed. Haq said that the core committee discussed matters in detail with legal advisors. “The constitution allows the prime minister to go on a long leave,” he was quoted as saying. “We hope we will meet the government delegation soon.”However, PTI senior leader Arif Alvi soon denied that the party was willing to show flexibility in its demand for the prime minister’s resignation.”There is no flexibility. Our stance is still the same as our original position: that the prime minister should resign and then the government can consider our other five demands,” he said.”When the government’s negotiating team comes, we will see their response and then react. But there is no such decision as yet from the core committee,” he said.Meanwhile, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq told reporters in Faisalabad that things were looking brighter now and that there were chances that issues might be resolved through dialogue. Earlier Agency reports Syay: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has initiated contact with former president and Pakistan Peoples Party leader Asif Ali Zardari to discuss the prevailing political situation in the country, visa-vise Imran Khan’s protest and demand for his resignation.Sopme leaders of other political parties termed Imran Khan’s protest and demand of Nawaz Sharif’s resignation unconstitutional. Meanwhile the , US opposed any extra-constitutional changes in Pakistan. The State Department, pointed out that the US sees Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as constitutionally elected and Washington did not support any extra-constitutional changes to (Pakistan’s) democratic system.Nawaz Sharif called Zardari and invited the PPP co-chairman for a lunch on Saturday which the former president accepted. Senior leaders of the PML-N and the PPP will accompany their party heads at the lunch where they are expected to discuss the prevailing political crisis in the country. The meeting will take place in Raiwind for which Zardari will depart from Karachi today.Former president Asif Ali Zardari and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman also spoke via telephone on Friday.The two discussed the political situation of the country and agreed that problems must be resolved as per the Constitution and law. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is also expected to establish contact with political leaders from other parties.
