PM Shehbaz Again Offers Talks to PTI After End of Marches and Sit-Ins

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has once again offered talks to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), saying the government will engage with the party if it ends its marches and sit-ins.

Addressing a ceremony in Islamabad, the prime minister said the government had worked hard for two and a half years to put the country’s economy back on track. He said macroeconomic stability had been achieved after considerable effort.

Shehbaz Sharif said the government’s efforts to make negotiations successful had unfortunately not produced results.

He said the country’s development and prosperity were continuing, but protests could affect exports, imports and the manufacturing sector. He warned that the economy would be the first to suffer from a politics of marches and sit-ins.

The prime minister urged the PTI to end its protests and said, “March and sit-ins will end, then we will talk to you.”

He also questioned whether disrupting the country’s development and damaging Pakistan’s international reputation was in the national interest.