ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition and head of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s negotiating committee, Omar Ayub, said on Thursday if the government had the authority, it should arrange a meeting with the party founder Imran Khan.
Talking to the media at the Judicial Complex here, the senior PTI leader said that after the party founder had given a go-ahead for presenting demands to the government committee in writing, “it remains to be seen if the government arranges our meeting with the party supremo”.
“The government is intentionally isolating Imran Khan to suppress the party’s leadership. This move reflects a strategy to stifle political opposition,” Ayub stated.
He said things could move forward only after they would be permitted to meet their leader in jail. “I have already stated we want a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan in an unmonitored environment, with no interference from the intelligence agencies,” he stressed.
Omar said when they had made the point to the government committee, its members had agreed and promised to arrange a meeting with the party founder chairman and then they backed out, saying it was not mentioned in the jail rules.
He reiterated that the PTI had two simple demands from the government: release party workers, form a judicial commission on May 9 and Nov 26 events.
Separately, PTI Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said on Thursday that negotiations had paused due to the government’s stubbornness and obstinacy.
“The PTI founder has made the establishment of a judicial commission mandatory for holding the third round of talks with the government,” he said while speaking at a press conference in Peshawar.
He questioned how the government could meet their major demands if they could not even arrange a meeting between the negotiating committee and Imran Khan.
He alleged that the PTI founder was being kept in a death cell meant for terrorists, deprived of access to TV, restrooms and visitation facilities.
“We are being told to submit our demands in writing. We have never backed down from our stance. PTI founder Imran Khan has given the government an opportunity despite oppression and fascism. Our demand is to grant access to the founder-chairman, but that did not happen for the past three and a half months. Even lawyers are not allowed to meet him,” he alleged.
The PTI lawmaker also said that they had demonstrated seriousness regarding their demands and reiterated that the founder-chairman had termed the formation of a judicial commission essential before the third session with the government.
He questioned, “If they cannot arrange one meeting with the committee and Imran Khan, how would they meet our bigger demands?”
He alleged that Imran Khan was being subjected to inhumane treatment in prison, and false claims were being made about the facilities provided. “Is the cell where the founder is being kept appropriate? He is being held in a terrorist death cell, without access to TV, restrooms, or visitation facilities,” he claimed.
Waqas Akram said that there was a court order to allow the PTI founder to communicate with his children, but it was not being implemented. “When Nawaz Sharif was in Adiala jail, he was asked about the menu for lunch and dinner,” he remarked.
Meanwhile, former prime minister Imran Khan received no visitor from family, friends and legal team in the Adiala jail on Thursday, for the first time in his one-and-a-half years of captivity.
Despite the day being allocated for meetings with family members and lawyers, no one was permitted to meet the detained PTI chief, jail sources revealed.
“Imran Khan kept waiting for the PTI leadership and other visitors in his barrack, but became desperate when nobody arrived to meet him,” the jail sources added.
Advocate Faisal Chaudhry reportedly attempted to contact the jail authorities to secure permission for a meeting with Khan, but received no response, furthering concerns about his isolation.
Also, PTI leader and Member National Assembly (MNA) Sher Afzal Marwat said on Thursday the PTI and government committees should exercise patience until the third round of negotiations.
“Showing anger over minor issues and issuing statements against one another should be avoided as such actions could spoil the atmosphere for dialogue,” he said while speaking to reporters on the Peshawar High Court premises.
He said the parties involved in negotiations must remain composed and avoid actions that could disrupt the process. He said the PTI founder had shown considerable flexibility, adding that he had said that even if the negotiating committee had been barred from meeting him, it should still proceed with the third and fourth sessions of talks and present their demands in writing.
Referring to the rescheduling of the reserved verdict by the accountability court against the founding chairman, Marwat questioned how such information was being shared with the media, saying that the judge merely issued new dates repeatedly as expected.
He was astonished over the predictability of the situation and said that such repeated changes in dates did not affect them.