Imran Khan's PTI will be 'ultimate loser' if talks on polls fail: Pak govt

Dismissing Imran Khans demand that the National Assembly be dissolved by May 14 for a successful outcome of talks as impracticable Pakistans ruling coalition has warned the former premier that his party will be the ultimate loser if the parleys failed as the polls can be delayed for a yearAhead of the third round of talks between the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz PMLNled federal coalition and the PTI scheduled for Tuesday the government told Khan that he cannot hold talks at gunpointWe want to tell Imran Khan that he cannot hold talks at gunpoint The first condition of talks is there are no preconditions Khan is so desperate that he wants his way or the highway PMLN Secretary General and Federal Minister for Development Ahsan Iqbal was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaperThe federal coalition termed Khans ultimatum impracticable and asked him to be more flexible for the success of this dialogue between the government and the opposition the report said on MondayIf the talks fail the ultimate loser will be the PTI as there is a provision for delaying elections for a year under the Constitution Imran Khan has warned of creating a law and order situation in the country if polls are not held this July and in such a scenario the elections will be delayed for another year Iqbal said on SundayThe federal coalition parties sat with the PTI with an open mind but Khan continued to ask for the dissolution of assemblies National Sindh and Balochistan by May 14 he said adding that the demand is not acceptable to the federal coalitionThe people of Sindh and Balochistan cannot be punished for the folly of Imran Khan who dissolved Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies to force electionsiquestunder the patronage of his handlers in the institutions the minister said adding that Khans Pakistan TehreekeInsaf PTI party would have to agree on a code of conduct for polls besides the sameday electionsAlso readMumbai Crime Handler of gang that targeted citizens posing as senior cops heldWhen asked if the elections would be held in Punjab in May in light of the Supreme Courts order in case of no breakthrough in parleys the minister said We clearly see politics behind this apex courts verdictDefence Minister Khawaja Asif asked what will be the result of the negotiations with the PTI as they are setting conditionsThe Pakistan Peoples Party PPP which pushed the PMLN to hold parleys with the PTI on elections however is still optimisticI hope that dissolution of the assemblies by May 14 is a proposal and not a condition set by Khan This suggestion is not viable Who will present the budget if the National Assembly is dissolved in May asked senior PPP senior leader and PMs special assistant Qamar Zaman KairaIt cannot be left to the caretaker setup to negotiate with the IMF and present the budget for the upcoming financial year he saidKaira said despite such a suggestion the PPP believed better sense would prevail and that these talks would not end up in failureJamaatiIslami chief Sirajul Haq who recently called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Imran Khan to push them for a consensus on polls said We are hopeful for a breakthrough in the dialogue and that both the federal coalition and the PTI will not head for a deadlockThe PTI has also shown optimism that its parleys with the government will succeed the report saidPTI wants the success of talks with the government but it has formulated a strategy in case of failure It is not possible for the PTI to sit silently if the Constitution is considered as a piece of trash and the public as insects PTI senior leader Fawad Chaudhry said in a tweetChaudhry also called on the people to prepare for a movementThe movement is starting tomorrow Monday with rallies in Lahore Islamabad and Peshawar culminating in a historic long march he saidThe Supreme Court has asked the government and the PTI to sit together for talks The apex court had already given May 14 as the date for elections in Punjab and the two sides should agree sooner on a new date to postpone the Punjab pollsThe main opposition party PTI is determined to press for polls in the provincial legislatures but the government maintains its stance on simultaneous elections across the countryThe National Assembly will complete its fiveyear term in August this yearAccording to the Constitution elections shall be held within 90 days after the dissolution of the lower house This means that the election must be held by midOctober The last general election was held in July 2018PTI chief Khan was ousted from power in April after losing a noconfidence vote in his leadership which he alleged was part of a USled conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia China and AfghanistanKhan who came to power in 2018 is the only Pakistani Prime Minister to be ousted in a noconfidence vote in ParliamentThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no 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