Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Sunday said that the PTI would move on with the implementation of “civil disobedience” based on incarcerated party founder Imran Khan’s orders in the same spirit, but “there is no clarity” until now regarding that.
Imran, in a post on his X account on December 5, lamented that party supporters had been killed “as a result of state terrorism” during his “final call” for nationwide protests on November 24, demanding the restoration of the PTI’s electoral mandate, the release of detained party members, and the reversal of the 26th Amendment.
A day of pitched battles between security forces and PTI protesters across the federal capital ended in a hasty retreat of the party’s top leadership and supporters from the Red Zone in the early hours of Nov 27.
At least six lives were lost in the three days of protests, which included a policeman and three Rangers officials who were knocked down by a speeding vehicle, officials and hospital sources said.
Following the debacle, Imran announced the formation of a five-member team to negotiate with the federal government on two points: the release of political prisoners facing trial and the formation of a judicial commission to probe the events of May 9, 2023 and November 26.
He said if these two demands were not accepted, the PTI would initiate a civil disobedience movement on December 14. Imran also criticised the PTI leadership for acting like ‘all is well’ on Thursday and reiterated his call for civil disobedience if the demands were not met by December 15.
While speaking to the media today in Peshawar, KP CM Gandapur said that the PTI founder had “made the announcement and whatever Khan’s order is, we have to implement that in the same spirit but […] there is no clarity until now”.
He said that the party was waiting for clear instructions regarding what needs to be done to initiate the movement.
“Once there’s clarity, God willing, we will do it,” the KP CM said.
He reiterated that the party had three demands: Imran Khan’s release, the return of PTI’s allegedly ‘stolen’ mandate and the reversal of the “unconstitutional amendments”.
‘Never a peaceful protest’
Responding to KP CM’s remarks in Abbottabad from a day ago, where he reiterated that the party would not carry out a peaceful protest, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar questioned if the PTI ever issued a “peaceful” call for protest.
“You never issued a peaceful call,” the information minister said, adding that if it was peaceful, then the party would not have charged the capital with weapons.
Tarar said that the government was ready for the party’s “next call” but downplayed its materialisation.
“I, however, don’t think you have the strength to give another call or to implement it,” the information minister said.
‘No environment for meaningful negotiations’
Speaking to Geo News, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif maintained that the PTI does not have a unified position on negotiations with the government, adding that the party had failed to create an environment conducive to negotiations.
The minister denied that the government had issued any statements confirming talks with the PTI.
“Any statements about negotiations are all coming from the PTI,” Asif said. “There has been no statement from the government about negotiations, nor has there been any confirmation.”
He added that the PTI was “exchanging statements among each other” and that none of them show a definitive party position.
“The PTI founder issues statements from jail, Bushra Bibi delivers statements from KP, and parliamentarians like Omar Ayub and (Barrister) Gohar are all giving different statements that do not match up,” Asif said.
“Some say they will pursue civil disobedience, while others have differing conditions.
“I don’t believe that the environment created by the PTI is conducive to meaningful negotiations.”
