PTI Renews Offer for Talks, Denies Backchannel Contacts Delayed March

• PTI says it postponed its Islamabad march to give the government more time to reconsider its position.
• Secretary General Salman Akram Raja says the government has shown no willingness to negotiate.
• Raja says the rise in terrorism makes dialogue between all sides more urgent.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has renewed its offer of talks with the government, while denying that backchannel contacts prompted it to postpone its march on Islamabad.

PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja said the party delayed the march to give the government more time to reconsider its decisions. He said PTI had yet to receive any indication that the government was willing to negotiate.

The march had originally been scheduled for September 27. PTI has said the protest is intended to press for the release of its jailed founder, Imran Khan, and what it describes as the restoration of constitutional supremacy. The government, meanwhile, has opposed road blockades and disruption to daily life, and had put additional security measures in place ahead of the planned march.

Raja said the latest wave of terrorism made it necessary for all sides to sit together and discuss a way forward. He also said that any contact between the parties would not necessarily have to be disclosed immediately.

His remarks followed a report, citing unnamed sources, that PTI and the authorities had held more than six backchannel meetings over the past four to five weeks without resolving their differences over the march. According to the report, the central question was whether PTI would call off the protest entirely or only postpone it.

The sources claimed that the government and security establishment had indicated political space could be created for PTI, while maintaining that agitation, violence, road blockades and marches would be unacceptable.

PTI’s revised march date is unclear from the information provided: this report says October 4, while earlier reports cited October 5.