No political stability without Imran Khan: PTI vice chairman

LAHORE: Incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi claimed on Saturday that there would be no political stability in the country without "accepting" the embattled party's founder Imran Khan's as "political reality".

"Imran Khan is a political reality," said Qureshi during an informal interaction with journalists in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail, adding: "Without accepting this reality, our country cannot achieve political stability."

Criticising a plethora of cases filed against him after May 9, 2023, riots, the politico said that dozens of cases had been lodged against him within just one year. He added that he had been in politics for 40 years but not a single case was registered against him in the last 39 years.

The former ruling party has been facing crackdown for its alleged involvement in the May 9 riots that saw military installations including Rawalpindi's General Headquarters (GHQ) and Lahore Corps Commander's House being vandalised by mobs.

He said that slain Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti was "not anti-Pakistan" and became a victim of "cruelty".

The former foreign minister claimed that the trend of labelling everyone "traitor" for the last 75 years should be stopped.

He urged stakeholders to resolve Balochistan issues via dialogue.

Responding to criticism against the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chairman's nomination as the opposition's mediator, Qureshi said that Mahmood Khan Achakzai "is a democrat and an individual having democratic and constitutional ideology cannot be labelled 'traitor'".

Khan, who has been behind bars for more than a year, had recently said that he was open to talks with military but only within the ambit provisioned by the Constitution and also promised to apologise if PTI workers were found responsible for the May 9 riots.

"Am I insane to ask our people to attack the army," said the cricketer-turned-politician, adding that the PTI workers were not involved in the May 9 riots and they were wrongfully declared "terrorists" for staging peaceful protests.

In his conversation with the media in Lahore today, PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan said that the incarcerated former premier would move court seeking CCTV footage of the May 9 protests.

The PTI's top leader said no deal had been struck with anyone. He added that Khan had stressed that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) were trying to create rifts between the nation and the army.

Moving further, he claimed this was the year of a fresh election, and that's why the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should be independent.

Ayub's recent claim echoed his party founder's statement, who said that the incumbent government led by the PML-N is only left with two months in power.

The PTI founder had categorically rejected the acceptance of an interim setup under the supervision of the incumbent government and any electoral event organised by the present CEC.