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Tuesday February 18, 2025

Imran ends talks 'over govt failure to form judicial commission'

Talks had to be called those off "due to non-cooperation from the government," says Barrister Gohar

By Asim Yasin & Khalid Iqbal & Mumtaz Alvi & Shakeel Anjum
January 24, 2025
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan. — Instagram/@imrankhan.pti/File
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan. — Instagram/@imrankhan.pti/File

RAWALPINDI: Former prime minister and PTI founder chairman Imran Khan has called off negotiations with the government, citing its failure to form a judicial commission within the agreed seven-day period.

The PTI and the government were engaged in talks to bring down the political temperatures. After two rounds of meetings, the third round was held seven days ago (Jan 16), in which the PTI formally presented its demands in writing. Despite the negotiations, the dialogue process has hardly moved forward on major issues, including the formation of judicial commissions to probe the May 9 and November 26 incidents and the release of PTI prisoners. On Monday, after PTI warned of a boycott of the next round of talks, the government had assured them of a response to their ‘charter of demands’ within seven working days.

Speaking to reporters outside the Adiala jail on Thursday after meeting Imran Khan, Barrister Gohar said the government had promised to form the judicial commissions within seven days, but it failed to do so.

The PTI founder asked for calling off the talks over the government’s failure to form the judicial commissions, he said. He added that the PTI was hopeful of continuing talks, but they had to be called those off “due to non-cooperation from the government”. Negotiations could not move forward if the commission was not announced today (Thursday), he said. He noted, however, that negotiations could resume if a three-judge commission was formed. Quoting the PTI founder, Gohar said the party would continue its struggle under the law and Constitution. “On the instructions of Imran, we will join various opposition parties and struggle together,” he added. To another question, Gohar quoted the PTI founder as saying “we are not waiting for help from any foreign country”.

Earlier, talking to his lawyers, Imran strongly condemned the ‘illegal raid’ on Hamid Raza’s house and seminary and said, “The ‘orderly’ (Ardali) government is pretending to hold talks on one hand and continuing to violate human rights on the other. We are immediately stopping the talks after this raid”.

He described the raid as “an attack” on their negotiation committee, saying no good could come out of the duplicitous and malicious negotiation process. “I have instructed my party to take all political parties into confidence for the rule of law, survival of democracy and respect for human rights in Pakistan. We are working on a grand national agenda against this fake government,” he added.

Terrorism, he regretted, is flourishing in Balochistan and no political solution was being found for the problem there. The issue of Baloch missing persons is very serious, for which Mahrang Baloch is raising her voice. “Many workers of PTI are also missing. We stand with them on this issue and will raise this issue before international human rights organisations. Until a government with public trust is brought in the whole country, including Balochistan, stability is not possible.”

Imran said he did not ask anything from the establishment for his own sake and that if he talks to them, it will be only for the betterment of the country and the nation. The real control is in their hands. Everyone else is their puppet, who awaits their signals. “We demand that a commission consisting of the three most senior judges of the Supreme Court or the Islamabad High Court be formed so that the real culprits involved in the incidents of May 9 and November 26 can be identified. Without this, no commission is acceptable to us.”

The PTI supremo alleged that the judicial commission would find out that the government and the establishment were involved in the false flag incident of May 9 and the massacre on November 26. “On May 9, they removed the army and police from the checkpoints, set fire to them and also removed the CCTV footage, blaming it on innocent political workers. On November 26 too, our people were martyred and injured and we were declared terrorists. At least 14 of our people were martyred, many people are injured and missing, thousands of innocent people were put in jails. Those who are outside the jails are sometimes going to one court, sometimes another for bail,” he added.

Regarding, Malik Riaz’s recent statement if he discloses the secrets many people will have to bite the dust, he said: “I request Malik Riaz to tell me which judges, generals and politicians received money and other financial benefits from him in the last 30 years so that the nation can know who is behind this mess.” In his message to overseas Pakistanis, Imran once again said that sending remittances to ‘this’ government is tantamount to “staining your hands with blood”. “Since this government is involved in the massacre of its own citizens, so boycott sending remittances to them,” he said.

The PTI also shared a message from Imran Khan on his social media account, ‘X,’ about his conversation with lawyers and the media at Adiala jail on January 22, 2025. “To cover up the events of May 9 (2023), Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa did not hear our petitions regarding the May 9 false flag operation and the election rigging of February 8 (2024). The worst human rights violations in history were committed against PTI,” he wrote. He continued that “from Zille Shah to Sami Wazir, there is a long tale of oppression and tyranny against us. We have not been able to get justice from any court. The courts are paralysed, but even today, the illegitimate government fears that if a judge hears our petitions on human rights violations on merit, they might actually deliver justice. But no matter what they do, it is a divine law that a reign of tyranny and oppression cannot last long”.

He added: “I am deeply grateful to Saudi Crown Prince HRH Mohammed bin Salman for responding to my appeal and releasing nearly 7,200 poor and deserving Pakistani citizens from Saudi prisons. I have always tried to use my position and influence to improve the lives of ordinary Pakistanis. This was one of the reasons I entered politics, and I will continue to strive for it for as long as I live.”

He reiterated that neither Bushra Bibi nor he financially benefited from the Al-Qadir Trust in any way. “Malik Riaz will testify that I was the only prime minister who never sought anything from him for personal or financial gain. Unlike Zardari, I did not have a Bilawal House built for me, nor did I sell One Hyde Park at double its value, like the Sharif family did. The future of Pakistan’s youth is important for me, and it was for this reason that Al-Qadir University was established,” he said. “They have used every tactic to cause me agony. I strongly condemn the social media campaign against Bushra Bibi. The opposition has been slinging mud at her for six years to malign my character. Those who claim to be our well-wishers but have become part of their propaganda are playing into the enemy’s hands by carrying out their mission,” he added.

Reacting to the PTI leadership calling off the talks, the spokesperson for the government negotiating committee, Senator Irfan Siddiqui, said the PTI’s announcement on ending the talks is regrettable, as the negotiation process was initiated on their wishes. “They should have listened to our answer and then refused. In our opinion, seven working days end on January 28, and we gave the date of January 28 to the speaker. Why can’t they wait for just five more days,” he said while talking to the media at the Parliament House.

The senator said it was decided in the first meeting that the demands would be brought in writing, and it took them 42 days to do so. “But they want us to form a commission within seven days. They were eager to come and they were also in a hurry to leave. What has prompted them to call off the talks now,” he questioned.

The spokesperson said, “We took the demands seriously and the committee of seven parties discussed them. We were ready for the deadline of Jan 28 so that something could be achieved. We wanted things to improve; they should revisit the decision.” He said despite their call for civil disobedience and using foul language against the prime minister, “we did not say anything about it either, we have been walking on our path with determination.”

Meanwhile, no meetings were held with the PTI founder in Adiala jail, despite it being the scheduled day for party leaders to meet the former prime minister. The jail authorities confirmed that no PTI leaders arrived for the meeting.

According to jail officials, PTI leader Salman Akram Raja contacted them by phone, to express his wish to meet Imran Khan, but his request was denied. Similarly, Imran Khan’s lawyer, Faisal Chaudhry, submitted a formal request to the jail superintendent for an immediate meeting with the PTI founder. The sources in the jail revealed that Imran Khan was currently not in the custody of jail authorities but under physical remand with the Rawalpindi police. As a result, any requests for meetings must be directed to the New Town Police Station, which now holds the authority to approve or deny such visits.

On the other hand, independent Senator Faisal Vawda said both the government and PTI want to keep the PTI’s founder in jail. Reacting to Imran Khan’s announcement to end the ongoing negotiations, he said he had already told them that the negotiations would not continue, that they would let the government run as it had been running since the day one and that the PTI people were happy with Imran Khan being in jail. “The frontline party people are enjoying power, none of them endured any hardships or suffered in the jails; they are doing everything under compromise, they voted for all the amendments, went to the gallery under compromise and played their role according to the script,” he claimed.

Vawda said there would be no sit-in or protest but they would surely write some letters abroad to defame the country. “When President Trump’s mood changes, they will be forced to negotiate, the government will continue to function as PTI is the guarantor of PMLN government,” he added.