ISLAMABAD: After a joint meeting of its political and core committees that lasted for four hours, the PTI on Thursday night agreed to negotiate with the federal government, with a meeting with imprisoned PTI chief Imran Khan as one of the primary demands.

A participant told Dawn that PTI interim chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan took the leaders into confidence, arguing that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had taken the initiative in the best interest of the country.

The PTI bodies were informed that Senate Opposition Leader Allama Nasir Abbas would represent Mr Achakzai, who had refused to take part in the talks, while the PTI would be repre-sented by Barrister Gohar, Amir Dogar, Haleem Adil Sheikh, and Moin Qureshi.

PTI leader Junaid Akber would also attend the dialogue as arepresentative of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CM Sohail Afridi, and case of his unavailability, some other party leader could be nominated.According to a party leader, the opposition could postpone the march if negotiations with the government were positive, but it totally depended on the attitude of the government. `It was suggested that the meeting with Imran Khan should be kept at the top of the demands, and that other demands should also include that Imran Khan be shifted to Shifa International Hospital and that the PTI be given a level playing field,` he said.

PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram confirmed the decision to engage in talks. Around 90 members of the central and political committees participated in the meeting.

Achakzai seeks meeting with Imran Earlier in the day, Mehmood Achakzai told reporters at Parliament House that he was ready to hold talks but not at the office of the prime minister or the National Assembly speaker because he considered them `illegitimate`.

`I am ready to sit anywhere in Pakistan... But I will not go to the speaker house [sic], the Prime Minister`s House or the prime minister`s chamber, he said, adding that the meeting with the PM would follow the meeting with Imran Khan.

TTAP reviews progress Earlier, Mr Achakzai, who also heads the Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-Ayin-i-Pakistan (TTAP) alliance, met other opposition leaders at Senate opposition leader Raja Nasir Abbas` chambers. They reviewed the consultations about the country`s overall political situation, the march, and constitutional and parliamentary affairs.

Speaking to the media alongside Mr Achakzai after the meeting, Raja Nasir Abbas said the opposition was ready for talks but without preconditions. He stressed that the PTI`s protest would be peaceful even when met with violence, and that `no false narrative` should be created against the protest.The opposition leader also criticised the reported arrests of PTI members under the Maintenance of Public Order law, terming it a completely `illegal practice`.

Gohar warns against emergency PTI interim chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, meanwhile, condemned the treatment of the party`s leaders and members and warned that the federation would be put at risk if a state of emergency or governor`s rule were imposed against the will of the people.

The PTI leader said the way to avoid a march was not by the imposition of governor`s rule or a state of emergency, but by talking to protesters, listening to the purpose for which they were out on the streets, and addressing their concerns.

He stressed that despite all this, the party was still ready for negotiations and had made its demands clear. On Imran and Bushra Bibi`s incarceration, the PTI interim chairman said, `We consider every single day they spend in jail to be unjust and tyrannical.

We knocked on the doors of the Supreme Court and the High Court to seek justice, but our voice was suppressed, and we were not heard. And now, when we go to the people to demand our rights, we are told that if we move forward, we will be treated like terrorists-why?` Earlier in the day, PM`s adviser Rana Sanaullah said the federal government and the PTI were engaged in `off-the-record talks` regarding the PTI`s planned protest on Oct 4. Mr Sanaullah told a TV channel that the decision on the proposed march rested with the PTI`s senior leadership, `with whom off-the-record consultation is ongoing`.