PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said on Thursday that he and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur held a meeting with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir.
“If talks have begun, it’s a welcoming gesture,” Barrister Gohar said while speaking outside Adiala Jail. “All demands have been presented.”
He said that the talks took place in Peshawar during the army chief’s recent visit there. “Direct talks with the establishment are welcome,” he said. “There is a positive development from the other side.”
PTI leader Asad Qaiser also told the media that the development took place.
Talking about his participation in Monday’s talks between the army chief and provincial politicians in Peshawar, Barrister Gohar said that any meetings he had were with PTI founder Imran Khan’s permission and instructions.
He said he met Imran and briefed him in detail about the Monday talks. “I never the disclose the purpose for whatever thing I’m going until I have Khan sahib’s specific permission,” Gohar added.
“Imran said the meeting was positive and better for the country’s stability and that there should be talks and solutions to issues should be found through political processes.”
The same was confirmed by Imran’s sister Aleema Khan while talking to the media outside Adiala Jail.
Earlier in the day, Gandapur also told reporters that he, along with Gohar, had met Gen Munir. Responding to a question about “backdoor negotiations”, the KP CM remarked, “There is no need for backdoor talks when everything is happening out in the open.
Questioned about the matter while talking to journalists, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that if the meeting occurred then it must have been in accordance with the law.
“Maybe the army chief told the prime minister because when the army chief meets [someone], he informs the prime minister,” Iqbal said.
Separately, the PTI finally presented its ‘charter of demands’ to the government in written form on Thursday, as the third round of negotiations between the two began.
The meeting kicked off under the NA speaker’s oversight and was attended by six people, including three PTI leaders, from the opposition, while eight represented the government.
During the meeting, the PTI formally presented its demands in written form. The three-page document, was signed by the six opposition members who attended the huddle.
According to a joint press release issued afterwards, the government committee would present its formal stance on the opposition’s demands within seven working days.
The date of the next meeting would be decided after consulting both the committees, the statement said.
The opposition put forward two main demands – (i) the formation of two judicial commissions, and (ii) “support” of the federal and provincial governments in bail, sentence suspensions, and acquittals of “political prisoners” identified by the PTI.
The letter stated that the demands were presented as a “prerequisite to wider negotiations with respect to the restoration of the Constitution, the rule of law and respect for the people’s mandate, free and fair elections”.
The opposition called upon the government to “set up two Commissions of Inquiry in terms of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 2017”, demanding that they comprise the chief justice of Pakistan or three serving Supreme Court judges, mutually nominated by the PTI and the government within seven days.
“The conduct of the proceedings of the two commissions must be open to the general public as well as the media,” it added. “The establishment of the two commissions identified in this charter is a necessary indication of seriousness of intent,” the opposition stressed.
“We shall not be able to continue with the negotiations if the two commissions sought by us are not agreed to in principle and constituted forthwith,” the letter concluded.
Besides the commissions, the PTI also called upon the federal government, as well as the governments of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, to “support, in accordance with the law, the grant of bails or orders suspending the conviction and sentence of all political prisoners” arrested pursuant to “one or more FIRs registered with respect to any event on May 9, 2023 or any event on November 24 to 27, 2024 or any other political event anywhere”.
It stated that the prisoners, to be identified by the party, would include those “convicted and whose appeals or revisions are presently pending before a court of law”.
In the past weeks, the PML-N-led coalition and the PTI have accused each other of derailing the negotiations and lacking seriousness. A highly demanded meeting of the PTI team with party founder Imran Khan in Adiala jail on January 12 paved the way for a third round of talks.
However, tempers have flared again in recent days with the government and opposition lawmakers assailing each other’s parties in the National Assembly and Senate.
Addressing the huddle, NA speaker Sadiq said he presented his two “demands” to both sides that the issues of economy and terrorism be addressed as they were public issues. “I requested them that the entire country should also be united on a charter of economy and [the issue of] terrorism, and that some committees should also be formed on these,” Sadiq said.
He affirmed that the talks were heading in the “right direction”, noting that “nearly all” members of the two committees took part in today’s session, and tried to find the best way forward.
The NA speaker said the opposition requested another meeting with the incarcerated PTI founder, with the government assuring the former of “trying to make the path for it”. He said both sides were trying to engage in talks with “grace and goodwill”. The NA speaker also stated that he was ready to resign from his role as the convener of the committee if anyone had any objections about it. “Some statements gave the impression that I am not fulfilling my role correctly,” Sadiq said, adding that it was not the case. Addressing a press conference later in the day, Sanaullah said the prime minister had constituted a committee comprising representatives from the government and its coalition allies that would prepare an “effective response” to the PTI demands.
He said the response formulated would be the “final one”. Giving his own analysis of the demands upon first glance, Sanaullah said the PTI had “recanted” from earlier demands it was making due to “a lack of substance” when it was reviewing the charter.
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