Responding to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stalwart Rana Sanaullah’s statement on “reconciliation”, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan rejected receiving any formal invitation from the incumbent government for negotiations.
Incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan has confirmed that he did not receive any message for dialogues, Barrister Gohar said while speaking to reporters outside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail today. “We will publicly confirm if we receive any invitation for talks.”
The politico categorically rejected holding dialogues with the incumbent government and said that his party would not hold any “secret talks”.
Regarding the hearing of the cipher case against the former premier at the Rawalpindi jail, Gohar said that the prosecutor presented 21 witnesses who recorded their testimonies today. He complained that Khan’s lawyers were “not given a chance to present evidence in the 14-hour hearing”.
About cases against Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi, Gohar said that the former first lady has no connection with the Toshakhana case but cases were lodged against her to pressurise the PTI founder.
Raising questions over the legitimacy of Sunday’s by-elections, Gohar said that the PTI founder also expressed concerns over the recent electoral event in 21 national and provincial constituencies.
He alleged that “ballot boxes were already filled” before the polling process, and the results of Punjab seats were “pre-planned”. He also alleged that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) neither provided a level playing field to the former ruling party nor took returning officers (ROs) from the judiciary.
Barrister Gohar said that the ECP failed to conduct fair and free elections, once again. He announced that his party will hold peaceful protests on Friday against the by-election “rigging”.
He also demanded the Supreme Court (SC) to hear PTI’s petitions regarding the Form 45 issue. He added that his party was neither resisting nor rejecting reconciliation but it was fighting for its rights.
Yesterday, PML-N senior leader Sanaullah extended a “reconciliation offer” to incarcerated PTI founder Khan and said that together they could steer the country out of crises.
His remarks came as the cash-strapped nation is simultaneously facing multiple challenges, including economic and political crises and a sharp rise in terrorism.
Speaking on Geo News programme “Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath”, he urged the PTI founder to come to the table as the country’s fragile economy could not bear escalating political tensions and politics of protests and agitation.
He asked Khan to “take the matter to a logical conclusion”. The former interior minister said that the PTI founder was not even “ready to sit or talk” with anyone.
Sanaullah made the call for dialogues after his party claimed at least two out of the five National Assembly seats, and also won 10 out of the 16 seats in the provincial legislatures, according to the unofficial and inconclusive results.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) and the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid have won one seat each in the provincial assemblies.
