PTI sets conditions for talks as Gohar reaffirms reconciliatory approach

ISLAMABAD: Persisting with his reconciliatory tone, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said on Tuesday that solutions to political problems must be found through political means.

Speaking to journalists at the Parliament House, he contended that progress could only be achieved when PTI’s demands are discussed openly and grievances and complaints are addressed. “We do not act independently; we take instructions from the PTI founder,” he emphasised.

Gohar explained that the party implements these instructions and reports back to Imran Khan. He said that the PTI founder initially had formed a five-member committee, which has recently been expanded to include two additional members.

“If progress is made in this regard, it will be a positive step. Solutions to political problems must come through political means,” Gohar reiterated.

Separately, PTI Spokesman Sheikh Waqas Akram criticised the “fake government’s” representatives for blaming the PTI and its unlawfully imprisoned founder Imran Khan for the failure to initiate dialogue. He accused the rulers of being the real obstacle, citing their “mandate-thieving mindset” and authoritarian rule as the root cause of the stalemate.

Waqas Akram lambasted the “non-representative government” for shifting blame onto the PTI for the deadlock in negotiations.

He pointed out that Imran Khan had opened the door for talks by presenting two reasonable demands and forming an empowered negotiation committee.

The PTI spokesman elaborated that the founder chairman’s demands—releasing unlawfully incarcerated prisoners and constituting judicial commissions to probe the May 9 events and the November 26 Islamabad massacre—were key to unlocking meaningful and constructive dialogue.

He urged the government to accept these demands immediately as confidence-building measures. He categorically said that the PTI would not “beg for dialogue,” emphasising that the responsibility for initiating talks lay with the “power-wielders.”

Waqas Akram warned that the ongoing impasse would not harm the “power usurpers” alone but would plunge the country deeper into crisis.