President Arif Alvi backed on Monday calls for a national dialogue on electoral reforms, but made it clear that Prime Minister Imran Khan will decide when to hold a dialogue and with whom.
He expressed these views in a meeting with senior journalists about persons with disabilities at the President House on Monday.
The president said the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s demand of resignation from the government was unjustified and added that the political system was being destabilised for the last two years.
Read more: Maryam Nawaz has never managed a kitchen in her life but wants to run the country, says Fawad Chaudhry
“There is a need for a national dialogue on electoral reform but the prime minister will decide when and with whom,” President Alvi said.
The Opposition, however, has demanded the prime minister resign and denied to sit with the ‘selected’ regime and hold talks on any issue.
On Monday, federal ministers said that the prime minister is ready for dialogue with serious-minded opposition leaders on public issues minus JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman and PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz.
Addressing the media in the federal capital, Information and Broadcasting Minister Senator Shibli Faraz said neither of the two Opposition leaders were in Parliament, which was the real forum to discuss the public's problems. "Maryam Nawaz and Fazlur Rehman are not in Parliament so the government cannot talk to them," he said.
Faraz was flanked by Water Resources Minister Faisal Vawda and Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry.
The PTI regime would only hold talks with "the responsible individuals who sit in the Parliament", he said, challenging the anti-government PDM to apprise the Centre of what it planned to do once it had toppled the federal government.
The information minister also said the Opposition was geared towards creating chaos in the country to protect their looted money and that those who intended on kicking out an elected government could never favour democracy.
"The PDM's public gathering yesterday neither made any mention of nor praised the soldiers who were martyred in Balochistan," he added, according to the publication.
On the other hand, Vawda, the water resources minister, underscored that "if Maryam uses the word 'fugitive' for [former military ruler] Pervez Musharraf, then why doesn't she call her father with the same name?"
"Please tell us the date or the year [of your arrival in Islamabad] since -[you made the] claim to be coming here to demand resignations" from the PTI government, he added, noting that PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz's frustration was centred in achieving power.
Chaudhry, the science minister, noted that the PDM's platform was being used against the Centre, Punjab, and public institutions. The government would only hold talks with senior and mature Opposition leaders, he added.
