The Bilawal Bhutto Zardari-led Pakistan Peoples Party has said it is ready to hold talks with jailed former prime minister Imran Khan provided the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder is willing to negotiate. This comes amid growing political instability in the cash-strapped country.
“It is being said that the PTI founders are ready for talks. If Imran Khan is ready for talks then it is a positive thing,” senior PPP leader Khurshid Shah said while talking to media in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
Shah welcomed the possibility of talks and called it a positive development.
“President Asif Ali Zardari has always tried to resolve problems through dialogue and the PPP will play its role if needed,” the Express Tribune newspaper quoted Shah as saying.
The PPP’s willingness to cooperate with Khan’s party comes amid growing political instability following the PTI’s tough stance against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led government.
The PPP, along with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and other allies, supports Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s PML-N. The two former rivals were recently involved in a war of words. The ruling PML-N accepted all the PPP’s demands on the federal budget and allocation of development funds.
Since the ouster of Khan through a no-confidence motion in 2022, the PTI has continued to strongly oppose the PPP-PML-N alliance.
Political tensions escalated after the February 8 elections, in which the two parties formed a coalition government at the centre.
There are growing calls for reconciliation from various social and political circles, and the PTI is being urged to hold talks with the government.
Khan’s party had previously rejected talks with the “Form-47 government”, preferring instead to negotiate with the military establishment.
In April, PTI’s Shehryar Afridi had indicated a preference for talks with Army Chief General Asim Munir and the Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (DG ISI).
Following this, PTI Secretary General Umar Ayub mentioned that Imran Khan has entrusted important responsibility to former President Dr Arif Alvi.
Last month, PTI Chairman Barrister Gauhar confirmed that Khan had approved talks with the government.
Similarly, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and Khan’s sister Aleema Khan called on state institutions to remain neutral for the country’s progress.
Meanwhile, the government has also called on the party founded by Khan to hold talks for a negotiated settlement.
Federal Petroleum Minister Dr Musadik Malik had said last week, “If you want to remove us, then do so. You do not want to resolve issues but complicate them. You should negotiate instead of destroying everything.”
tune in