Islamabad: Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) leader Tahir-ul-Qadri said on Sunday he was keeping the door open for talks with the government, as party workers and supporters continued their sit-in close to the parliament in Islamabad for the 10th day.

Addressing demonstrators, he said federal minister Khawaja Sa’ad Rafique met him earlier in the day and told him that the government was ready to talk about the June 17 Model Town incident in Lahore, the capital of Punjab.

In that incident outside the PAT headquarters, 14 party workers were shot dead and scores injured, allegedly in police firing. The party has been demanding the resignation of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif over the bloodshed.

Qadri said the government’s unwillingness to discuss the Model Town incident led to a deadlock and suspension of talks between the two sides.

Workers and supporters of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) also continued their sit-in at the site in the capital’s sensitive Red Zone, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

In what was seen as a sign of flexibility, the PTI leader on Saturday proposed that Sharif resign for 30 days to facilitate an independent probe by a panel of Supreme Court judges into alleged large-scale rigging in the 2013 polls.

But the government immediately dismissed Imran’s suggestion and reiterated its firm stand against the “unconstitutional” resignation demand, the main sticking point.

PTI and PAT have said they were expanding the protest campaign and their supporters would stage sit-in demonstrations across the country.

The Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, a key member of the ruling party’s negotiating team, said the government has accepted the basic demands of Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaaf for electoral reforms and transparent investigation into the 2013 general elections.

In an interview with state-run Radio Pakistan, Iqbal said the demand for the resignation of the prime minister was not acceptable.

He said the judicial commission will probe the allegations of rigging and if these accusations were proven, the government will step down and fresh elections would be announced.

Iqbal expressed the hope that the nation will hear some good news in the next two days.