- Sanaullah says Imran never met Shehbaz during his tenure.
- “Imran always wanted to talk to the establishment.”
- All issues will be resolved through dialogue: PTI’s Khosa.
Amid reports of meetings between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders and National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, the government has welcomed the PTI’s renewed approach to holding negotiations with its political rivals despite a “questionable past”.
Speaking on the Geo News Speaking on ‘Capital Talk’, Prime Minister’s Assistant on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah appreciated PTI’s offer to hold talks, saying that in the past, the opposition party has always refused offers to enter into negotiations with political rivals.
“When he (Imran Khan) was in the government, he used to say that I will not discuss with the opposition and I will not spare them,” Sanaullah recalls.
He said that during his three-and-a-half-year tenure, Imran never called the then opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif and never met the opposition members in Parliament.
“From today, his position is that he will only talk to the establishment. But now if they (PTI) have realized that it is a very good thing,” remarked the assistant to the Prime Minister.
The statement came a day after the meeting between National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq and top PTI leaders, including Asad Qaiser, Omar Ayub and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza, at the House of the President in Islamabad.
Following the key meeting, the embattled PTI and the government agreed to sit at the negotiating table without any preconditions ahead of the former’s civil disobedience movement, the sources said.
The meeting took place following telephone contact between Qaiser and Sadiq, the sources added.
Responding to a question on PTI’s demand to release Imran Khan from jail, Sanaullah — on today’s show — said the PTI founder was not under judicial custody due to several cases registered against him .
He said the Prime Minister could not issue any order to provide relief to the imprisoned PTI founder as he was not behind bars due to an executive order.
Sanaullah said the PML-N then proposed to the PTI to hold talks during the PTI’s tenure as its members were victims and accused in false cases.
“Shehbaz Sharif had said in the presence of Imran Khan (then Prime Minister) that we were ready to sit down with you to draw up the economic charter.”
Similarly, he said that Prime Minister Shehbaz, speaking in the House recently, had opposed holding negotiations to resolve differences.
However, the prime minister’s aide said the PTI had always rejected the offer of talks, saying it would only negotiate with those who hold real power and that the existing leaders are “powerless”.
Meanwhile, PML-N parliamentary leader in the Senate, Senator Irfan Siddiqui, said that if the Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) was ready for dialogue, “we are all ready for it”.
However, he mentioned that the PTI should not brandish the sword thinking that if the negotiations were not held on such a date, it would start a disobedience movement, adding that this type of behavior cannot go hand in hand .
“We want to talk, we don’t want riots, Pakistan has to move forward and to move forward, we have to abandon old customs.”
Siddiqui said peaceful protest was a fundamental right in democratic societies, questioning whether this right was unconditional in a country.
He said: “Let peaceful protests be done with slogans of Jihad-Al-Jihad, kill and die, and stay with nails. »
“Dialogue is only a way out”
Meanwhile, PTI leader Latif Khosa – in the same program – said all issues should be resolved through dialogue.
“However, our basic demand was to release Imran Khan because the current leadership (of PTI) cannot take any decision without consulting him (Imran).”
Asked what caused the PTI’s change of heart in its policy of initiating negotiations only with powerful circles, Khosa said the party would present the same demands even during negotiations with parties in power against which he had protested, including allegations of fraud in the February 8 elections. elections.
He said there was nothing wrong in meeting members of the ruling parties and the PTI would present the same demands to the sitting leaders, including the release of Imran Khan.