ISLAMABAD:Federal Minister for Railways and PML-N leader Saad Rafique has said that he is in favours of holding talks with the opposition party for the sake of country despite the fact that PTI Chairman Imran Khan has vitiated the environment by his politics of hatred, slander and conspiracies. Taking to his Twitter handle on Wednesday, Rafique wrote: “I am in favor of dialogue and I have also given my opinion within the party. But the Imran Company has ruined its environment by indulging in abuses, conspiracies and slander. How to communicate in an environment of mistrust? If talks happen, how could they be productive?

“Imran worked very hard to make politics hateful, now he is picking his own thorns. “However, despite the mistrust and conflicts, the way out lies in talking to each other for Pakistan. I think if talks were held, everyone will participate in it. Some directly, some indirectly. The agenda will be within the constitutional scope, but not on one point!” According to some media reports, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called a meeting of the heads of coalition parties on the issue of holding talks with the PTI on Tuesday. In the meeting, the Pakistan People’s Party supported the idea of holding talks with the PTI but the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam and Jamhoori Watan Party opposed it. There are also some hawkish elements within the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz who are opposing to hold talks with the opposition.

A few days ago, Jamaat-i-Islami Amir Sirajul Haq held separate meetings with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PTI Chairman Imran Khan, insisting both to hold talks. The JI chief’s efforts yielded positive results as both sides gave a ‘positive response’. The PML-N tasked Ayaz Sadiq and Saad Rafique to hold talks while the PTI formed a three-member panel comprising Pervez Khattak, Mehmood ur Rashid, and Ejaz Chaudhry for the task.