Imran met American-Pakistani in Adiala in Nov

LONDON: Former prime minister and jailed PTI leader Imran Khan held extensive talks over several sessions in November last year with one of the persons involved in recent high-profile talks with members of the powerful Pakistani administration for the release of Imran Khan and the way forward for a possible breakthrough between the PTI and the powers that be, The News can disclose.

Highly credible sources shared with this reporter that long before a group of American Pakistanis travelled to Pakistan in the third week of March for the sensitive talks, several rounds of meetings took place in Adiala Jail between Imran Khan and one of the persons involved in the recent negotiations and talks.

The people involved in the recent efforts to break the deadlock between Khan and the powerful Pakistani administration included: food and real estate American-Pakistani tycoon Tanweer Ahmed, PTI USA’s senior leader Atif Khan, Sardar Abdul Sami, Dr Usman Malik, Dr Saira Bilal and Dr Mohammad Munir.

The American-Pakistani, who held direct one-on-one talks with Khan in November last year, has been a personal friend and donor of Khan for nearly two decades and frequently met him when he was the premier. He played a key role in coordinating the delegation from the US to Pakistan.

Credible sources have shared interesting insights into what happened during the course of these two meetings.

During the November meeting last year with the American-Pakistani, Imran Khan accepted the need for an understanding with the government and the establishment and almost agreed for a settlement of the issues - until he was assured in the same week that millions will join the long march on Islamabad, creating enough chaos to bring the system to the decisive negotiations.

According to the sources, three senior KP leaders gave assurances to Khan during the jail meetings that millions would storm Islamabad ensuring his release on the PTI’s terms. Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi was not in the picture and no decision was made at that time about her taking part in the march. Imran Khan, said the trusted sources, was so convinced about the success of the march that he decided to end the talks with the American-Pakistani.