ISLAMABAD:
Talks between the PTI and the ruling PML-N will continue despite the conviction of PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife in a corruption case, PTI Chairman Ali Gohar Khan announced on Friday.
“[Talks] will not be interrupted because of this [judgment]”, Gohar quoted Imran as saying shortly after an accountability court sentenced the former prime minister to 14 years in prison in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust corruption case .
He said talks with the government would continue and the PTI would wait to see if the government constituted judicial commissions on the May 9 and November 26 incidents.
Imran said talks with the government would continue but if there was no progress within the seven-day period given to the other side, there would be no further talks, he- he added.
“The PTI has submitted its charter of demands; and it will wait to see how the government responds to these demands,” Gohar said.
He said Imran Khan was in good spirits and was not afraid of conviction. The sentence pronounced in reference to Al-Qadir will soon be annulled by the high courts, he said.
The PTI chairman recalled that Imran kept telling the higher judiciary that people are not getting justice from lower courts, which leads to breaking the trust of nations in the judiciary.
Gohar said nations are destroyed when there is no justice in society. Urging the population not to lose hope, he said justice would soon be served.
Talks between the government and the PTI began on December 23 and the two sides have so far held three rounds of talks to discuss thorny issues and find solutions that could bring political and economic stability to the country.
Asked whether the diverted channel was still being used for negotiations, Gohar, while hesitating for a second, replied that “this is the channel that will continue.”
Apparently, the third round of negotiations was initially delayed until a verdict was announced in the £190 million corruption case as the government continued to demand a charter of demands from the PTI while the PTI insisted that it would submit its demands only after its negotiators had done so. allowed to meet Imran Khan in jail for finalizing the same.
Surprisingly, the announcement of the judgment was postponed three times, with talks stretching into a third week without any progress.
However, the PTI negotiating committee was eventually allowed to meet Imran Khan in prison to discuss his demands and present them to the government.
After the meeting, the PTI negotiating committee presented its demands before the ruling coalition committee. The demands that Khan’s party submitted in writing to the government in its third round include judicial investigations into the events of May 9, 2023 and November 26, 2024, as well as the release of “political prisoners.”
Apart from the judicial commissions, the PTI and its allies have sought support from the federal and provincial governments in matters of bail, suspension of sentence and acquittal of “political prisoners” identified by the party.
