The founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and former Prime Minister Imran Khan has reportedly accepted the offer for negotiations extended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and has expressed willingness to hold talks with the ruling coalition led by Pakistan Muslim League (N).
According to a report by The News on Thursday, Imran Khan has authorized PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan to represent the party in the negotiations. Barrister Gohar met Imran Khan earlier this week on Monday at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.
Imran Khan made it clear that the negotiations should be kept away from media attention so that the discussions can be more meaningful and result-oriented.
Quoting PTI sources, The News reported that the party will now formally contact the government to move the negotiation process forward. The party believes that in the past, negotiations failed due to constant media scrutiny, hence this time a silent and focused strategy will be adopted.
The newspaper, citing PTI’s internal sources, stated that Imran Khan wants these talks to be supported by the military leadership. According to one source, Imran Khan is even willing to meet with a representative of the military establishment in order to move the process forward.
Speaking to The News, Barrister Gohar confirmed that he had conveyed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s offer to Imran Khan. However, he declined to discuss the details of the conversation or the instructions given by Imran Khan. According to him, “I cannot disclose what was discussed between us.”
This positive development emerged after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently invited PTI to participate in national-level negotiations during a speech in the National Assembly.
Although Barrister Gohar had welcomed the offer at the time, party insiders had made it clear that no progress was possible without formal approval from Imran Khan.
