Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has flatly denied any intention of engaging in direct talks with the government, disputing reports that he had discussions with the speaker of the National Assembly.
Gohar addressed the nature of PTI’s discussions with the Speaker of the National Assembly in a Sunday media statement. “As an opposition party, we meet with the speaker to discuss parliamentary affairs and the functioning of the assembly,” he said. “These meetings are open and are focused solely on assembly matters or opposition parliamentary issues.”
In none of their sessions with the speaker, the PTI legislators claimed that they had discussed holding talks with the administration. “At no point has any PTI member or delegation suggested negotiations with the government during our interactions with the speaker,” he said. Gohar went on to say that the party has not offered to review any of the ideas made during negotiations. “We remain steadfast in our stance of not engaging in direct talks with the government,” he said.
In April, a day after reports surfaced that Imran Khan, the founder of the Pakistan Terrorist Party, had given the go-ahead for talks with the political establishment and establishment forces through “backdoor talks,” Gohar affirmed that PTI was not in talks with anyone. According to him, the former prime had just asked for names to begin negotiations; however, at this time, no conversations were taking place.
Following an important advisory meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) yesterday at the party secretariat in Model Town, Lahore, which was chaired by Nawaz Sharif, the ruling party refused to engage in any kind of conversation with its bitter rival PTI until its leader, Imran Khan, publicly apologized for the May 9 riots.
Refusing to offer an apology, Imran maintains that he is the one who should be held accountable for the violence on May 9 and has seen the CCTV footage of the bloodshed. Ahsan Iqbal, the central secretary-general of the PML-N, declared that talks would not resume until the PTI founder admitted his role in the chaos on May 9 and expressed regret for his political maneuvers.
“Until the PTI founder apologizes for his political maneuvers that caused the May 9 chaos, no negotiations can take place,” Iqbal declared in a media interview following a party meeting presided over by PML-N President Nawaz Sharif.
He charged PTI with trying to utilize its social media operations to weaken the country internationally. He ridiculed the idea of retaliation, claiming that PTI’s founder was having a “five-star” jail experience, and insisted that PTI had to establish its innocence or suffer the repercussions. It’s not going to happen, but they want an NRO. It’s their turn to provide evidence or give an explanation for their crimes now that they sought receipts from us, Iqbal said.
Iqbal emphasized that genuine discussions with PTI could only take place if the party repudiates its “anti-national” policies and asks the country for forgiveness. In addition, Khawaja Asif, the minister of defense, stated that he was against holding talks with the PTI following the PML-N meeting led by supremo Nawaz.
According to recent media reports, Mahmood Khan Achakzai and the Pakistan Muslim League (N) have been in contact to discuss indirect discussions with the PTI. The party leadership has assigned Rana Sanaullah, the PM’s assistant on political affairs, to facilitate this communication. Achakzai, who represents PkMAP, was chosen in April to lead the Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Ain, an alliance that also includes the PTI, SIC, MWM, and BNP-M. Later, the PTI declared that the partnership would be expanded to include all opposition parties.
The job of coordinating with Achakzai to investigate this dialogue has been given to the prime minister’s counselor on political issues, Rana Sanaullah, by the party leadership.
On Friday, senators from the treasury benches attempted to repair their relationship with the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), as they had earlier in April, hoping to bring back much-needed political stability to the nation. During the upper house session, legislators from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and PML-N used accommodative rhetoric to win over the opposition. The PTI, however, did not waver in its position and continued to accuse the ruling alliance of victimizing it.
