RAWALPINDI:
After days of uncertainty and wrangling, the deadlock in the PTI-government talks appeared to have cleared up on Wednesday as the former ruling party’s imprisoned supremo, Imran Khan, gave the green light for submitting the demands in writing, clearing the path for negotiations to progress and helping to cool off the political temperature.
The embattled party’s failure to present a written charter of demands had been the main sticking point, with party leaders expressing growing frustration over the government’s fixation on technicalities. They insisted that the verbal demands made in earlier meetings should be taken as their written demands.
However, the PTI’s reluctant decision to submit its demands in writing on Wednesday, despite claiming it was not needed, came after a long-anticipated meeting between PTI’s negotiating team and the former prime minister at Adiala Jail.
The meeting followed a days-long lull, during which PTI leaders had insisted on seeing their leader before the third round of talks could kick off.
The PTI delegation, which included Barrister Gohar, Ali Zafar, and Sher Afzal Marwat, met Imran Khan in a courtroom at the Adiala Jail facility, clearing up some ambiguity plaguing the talks for days.
In recent days, the negotiations have been marred by uncertainty due to PTI’s inability to present its written demands and meet with its incarcerated founder.
For days, the party had claimed that Adiala jail authorities were blocking their efforts to meet Imran, linking the submission of their demands to this very meeting.
Addressing the media after the meeting, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan confirmed that the party would submit its two main demands in writing. He stated: “We will present our two demands in writing because even though there is no need to do so, we don’t want it to [delay the talks] by using it as a reason. Khan sahab has granted us permission and said that we should give [our demands] in writing, so we will do that.”
Gohar also weighed in on the accusations that the negotiations were merely a means of securing a “deal”. He dismissed the notion, reiterating that the engagement with the government was aimed at benefitting the country and was meant to serve a “limited purpose”.
When asked about remarks from Imran Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan, who claimed that her brother had received several offers from the authorities through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, Gohar downplayed the issue, casting doubt on its significance. He insisted that the PTI had not acted on any such “offer” during its interactions with the government.
