Pakistan government ready for political dialogue with Khan

The Pakistani government has shown green signal to hold a political dialogue with Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to bring down political heat and restore calmness back to the country.

The likely negotiation is about to take place for the sake of peace and also opening the door for major consensus on defining issues that Pakistan has been facing for many decades.

Despite political upheaval, this dialogue is crucial from an economic perspective as Pakistan is facing serious economic challenges which require unanimous view among the top leadership and stakeholders.

Pakistan’s Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar has said the coalition government is ready to hold a grand political dialogue if Mr. Khan shows a willingness.

“Imran Khan should send two people from his side while two people from the coalition government will sit together to discuss things,” DailyTimes reported citing Tarar. During the four-year tenure of the PTI, they did not try to mend relations with the opposition, according to him, who said that general elections across the country should be held together for political and economic stability.

Commenting on the elections dilemma as Mr. Khan frequently insisted on early election, he said that the simultaneous election for the national and four provincial assemblies is the only viable option to bring political and economic stability to the country.

“We should not forget that the country is also facing security challenges on multiple fronts and holding elections requires the massive deployment of law enforcement agencies, which is not possible at this point in time,” he said.

Khan is exaggerating his arrest

Pakistan Minister for Defense, Khawaja Muhammad Asif came up with a different statement and accused Mr. Khan of complicating his arrest while in the past several politicians went to the court for clarifications.

Alghouth, he said that the government is ready to hold a comprehensive dialogue with Khan, but said the government would not oblige by entering into any transactional dialogue with the opposition, as nothing would come out of it.

“We assumed this govt. almost a year back. We are completing one year in power as a result of the successful vote of no confidence against the then government,” Khawaja Asif said.

“Imran Khan’s political journey started with a cypher,” Asif said, adding that nowhere in the world an accused had ever refused to appear in the court.”

Pakistan defense minister, Khawaja Asif

A large number of supporters for Mr. Khan had resisted his arrest and engaged in intensive clashes with the police. Pakistani police also arrested dozens of PTI workers and supporters for standing against the law and disruption of law and order.

Finally, Khan appeared in the court while his supporters were gathered in front of the court and was ready to attack if the decision was against him.

Minister Asif alleged that every time he (Khan) appeared in the courts, the judiciary was intimidated.

“We sent police to arrest Khan, but they were attacked in which 70 to 80 police officers received injuries. They pitched a battle outside his (Imran Khan’s) house. This has never happened in Pakistan,” Asif said.

Khan is not first opposition to face court

Asif said that during Mr. Khan’s tenure and in the past also opposition workers and leaders were arrested and they were produced to the court in a very graceful and dignified manner as political workers.

He said that these leaders had never contested their arrest physically, never abused and maligned the courts, and during Khan’s rule as Prime Minister, almost the whole of the top leadership of PML-N was arrested.

“Our leader Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif got arrested when he came back from the UK to surrender, his daughter, sons and nephews were arrested. But they never resisted their arrest,” Asif quoted by APP.

The Minister while sharing his account claimed that he got picked up from Embassy Road and remained in jail for almost six months. “Almost for three years my wife and sons appeared in court.”

Asif said that the victimization of the opposition was unprecedented in Khan’s era and said that they have seen that when politicians were victimized during martial law and military governments.

Only one can exist

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that Mr. Khan has brought the “nation’s politics to a point where only one of us can exist.”

In an interview with a local news channel, Sanaullah said “when we feel our existence is being threatened, we will go to a point where we will not bother whether a move is democratic or not.”

He called Mr. Khan as “enemy” and said that there will be no normalcy or political stability in the country so long as the “PTI party chief exists”.

Khan’s party has immediately reacted to Sanaullah’s comment calling it “incendiary remarks” against his party.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, the party’s leader Taimur Jhagra said “a fight to the death? This is not an ordinary person talking but Pakistan’s interior minister. In any other country, he would have been made to resign.”

“No one from the government has contradicted (the remarks). No one has apologized. This exposes their real political values, and in a sad way, is also an honest admission of how afraid they are of Imran Khan.”

Since his removal from power in April last year, Khan had frequently taken to the streets and organized nationwide rallies to pressurize the government to agree for early national elections. He even received bullets in his leg at one such rally in November.

Khan had frequently alleged the incumbent government of the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the military establishment to either assassinate or put him in jail before general elections due to later this year.