PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on Friday said that there are currently no negotiations or talks between the party and the federal government or the military establishment.
Last year, talks between the government and the PTI commenced in the last week of December to bring down political temperatures, but despite weeks of negotiations, the dialogue process hardly moved forward on major issues — the formation of a judicial commission and the release of PTI prisoners.
From December into January, the PML-N-led coalition and the PTI accused each other of derailing the negotiations and lacking seriousness. A highly demanded meeting of the PTI team with party founder and ex-premier Imran Khan in Adiala Jail on January 12 paved the way for a third round of talks. However, the PTI decided to boycott the fourth round of talks with the government, a day after it announced that Imran issued directions to call off negotiations due to a delay over the formation of judicial commissions.
Speaking on media News programme ‘Doosra Rukh’, the PTI chairman denied that talks were taking place and said it was “unfortunate” that political issues were not being resolved with political solutions. He also recalled the history of talks between the PTI and the government, which did not bear fruit.
“When we announced that our mandate was stolen in March 2024, [Imran] Khan sahib formed a committee to hold talks, but when the talks did not take place, people said ‘ýou only want to talk to the establishment’,” Gohar said.
“Khan sahib said that [Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief] Mahmood Khan Achakzai sahib should hold talks; if he brings us any offer, we will consider it,” he added.
The PTI chairman noted that another committee was formed on November 26, but recalled that no talks were conducted and said the government did “not take the issue seriously”.
“Even when we and the government formed committees after November 26, we could not meet for two weeks,” he said. “They did not want to meet us after that. In these circumstances, we did not want to sit and gossip for a photo opportunity.”
“We wanted to bring some issues to the table because we understood that if we found a political solution to the political issues facing the country, it would be much better for democracy, for the House and it would be better for both parties if we progressed this way. But it didn’t happen, so the matter didn’t move forward.”
Speaking about military operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gohar said that the PTI held multiple all-party conferences on the issue and held the conferences in January, July and September this year.
“Intelligence-based operations are referenced in our press releases, but there cannot be collateral damage or politicisation,” he explained. “People displaced in prior operations have still not rebuilt their homes.”
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