- PTI founder says he has tasked Mahmood Khan Achakzai to hold negotiations with political parties
August 03, 2024
RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan has said that he is open to talks but only within the ambit provisioned by the Constitution.
“I will hold talks while staying within the Constitution, ” the PTI founder said while speaking to reporters in the Adia jail where he has been incarcerated for nearly a year.
The former prime minister’s remarks come against the backdrop of his willingness to hold negotiations with the military where he has even called on the latter to nominate a representative to hold parleys.
“We are ready to hold talks with the military. The army should nominate their representative [for negotiations],” Khan had said during a case hearing in the Adiala facility earlier this week.
The former ruling party’s founder and other senior leaders including the likes of Shah Mahmood Qureshi and a large number of workers, have been embroiled in various cases related to the May 9 riots triggered after Khan’s arrest in a graft case last year.
The riots saw military installations including Rawalpindi’s General Headquarters (GHQ), Lahore’s Corps Commander’s House and others being vandalised by mobs which was followed by a nationwide crackdown against the PTI.
Since then, the ex-PM has multiple times expressed willingness to prefer to hold talks with the military over the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led incumbent government.
The PTI founder’s move has garnered a strong response from the government which has accused Khan of trying to “politicise” the military and has also offered the party to come to the table.
The party also faces a potential ban, which, as per Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal will be implemented once the institutions decide on it.
“The PTI should review their behaviour and seek apology from the [state] institutions and the masses [and then] maybe a way forward can emerge for them,” the minister noted, adding that the incarcerated premier was inviting the military to intervene in politics while simultaneously claiming to be advocating for civilian supremacy.
