Rebuking reports suggesting an indirect dialogue with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan firmly stated that his party has not initiated or sought any discussions with the ruling party.
Speaking to a private television news channel on Sunday, Barrister Gohar clarified, “The PTI neither offered any talks nor sought any favours.” The PTI chairman emphasized that the party’s recent meeting with National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq was strictly limited to matters concerning the National Assembly and did not involve any negotiations with PML-N. His remarks come amid circulating reports suggesting that there may be prospects for dialogue between PTI, founded by Imran Khan, and its arch-rival PML-N.
However, these claims were further complicated when Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Chairman and leader of the PTI-led opposition alliance Tehreek Tahafuz Aiyeen-e-Pakistan, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, confirmed that PML-N had indeed extended an offer for negotiations. Speaking to The News on Sunday, Achakzai said, “All the political leadership, including Nawaz Sharif, is on the same page with regard to the Constitution. I have met Rana Sanaullah. There is no other way to take the country forward except through negotiations.”
Achakzai recalled that PTI had chosen him to lead negotiations, adding that the party should have positively responded to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s offer for talks. He suggested that apart from Imran Khan, the party’s leadership should not oppose dialogue.
Despite this confirmation, uncertainty continues to loom over the possibility of PTI-PML-N talks. Imran Khan, who remains incarcerated, has repeatedly ruled out any negotiations with the Nawaz Sharif-led party. He has expressed his willingness to engage only with those who wield actual power in the country, stating last month, “Achakzai will only [hold] talk with political parties,” while stressing his openness to talks “within the ambit provisioned by the Constitution.”
Meanwhile, two senior PML-N leaders, Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, have also expressed reservations regarding dialogue with PTI. Iqbal conditioned the possibility of talks with an apology from PTI for allegedly orchestrating last year’s May 9 violent protests, while Asif, who was not part of the team assigned to speak with Achakzai, voiced his opposition to engaging in any such dialogue.
In his clarification regarding the meeting with the NA Speaker, Barrister Gohar reiterated that no discussions on dialogue had taken place. “No PTI member of parliament is in contact with the PML-N leadership over talks,” he asserted. “Neither the PTI’s parliamentary leadership has held any negotiations with the PML-N, nor do [we] have such a wish.”
Separately, The News reported that the PTI chief had remarked, “We have not been told by anyone, but the formation of a government committee for negotiations is a good thing.”
